
June 23, 2025
Trevor Zegras will be sporting a different shade of orange soon.
The Flyers have a center.
Trevor Zegras is on his way to Philadelphia. The 24-year-old has been acquired from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for center Ryan Poehling, a second-round draft pick (45th overall) this week, and a fourth-round pick in 2026, the organization announced Monday after Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman and The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun were first to report.
Zegras, a former 2019 first-round pick by Anaheim, is a talented center known across hockey for his flashy, highlight-reel-making plays, but also as one who has struggled through injury and stunted development in the past couple of years over in Orange County.
He has long been believed to be in need of a change of scenery, and has long had his name thrown around in trade rumors because of it.
He'll be getting one now, likely with a chance to be a top-line center to go right next to rising star winger Matvei Michkov.
Zegras will be entering the last season of a three-year deal at an annual cap hit of $5.75 million, per PuckPedia. He'll be an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent after.
Poehling, a hard-skating depth center for the Flyers for the past two seasons, is going into the last of his two-year contract at $1.9 million per.
Between the 45th overall pick this year (acquired from Columbus in the Ivan Provorov trade from June 2023) and the 2026 fourth-rounder that are also getting sent to the Ducks, the Flyers will still be left with 10 selections this weekend, including the No. 6 overall pick and six picks in total within the first two rounds. Their 2026 draft stock, though, has fallen to just five picks.
The Flyers also have a touch over $15.1 million in cap space to use with Zegras' contract now on the books, again per PuckPedia. They still need to get RFAs Cam York and Jakob Pelletier signed. However, that breathing room has a chance of being used for more potential deals later this week, as other recent rumors have linked the Flyers to winger JJ Peterka and defenseman Bo Byram in Buffalo, along with an eye on Jason Robertson and Dallas' evident cap crunch.
Since entering the NHL in 2021, Zegras has flashed the talent capable of making him a star-level center as a pro, pulling off near-unreal moves like the Michigan and an alley-oop tap-in over the net within actual games. Health and his fit within the Ducks' own lengthy rebuild, though, worked against him.
Zegras only played 31 games in 2023-24 and 57 in 2024-25, scoring only 18 goals and 47 points across both seasons, while other on-the-rise names like Leo Carlsson, Mason McTavish, and (yeah...) Cutter Gauthier formed Anaheim's next core.
Zegras, with all kinds of youth surrounding him on his new team, will get a fresh start and a chance to put the puzzle fully together.
General manager Danny Brière, meanwhile, is taking a chance at a reasonable a cost to see if he just found the Flyers a first-line center in waiting.
Brière is expected to speak to the media regarding the Zegras trade later Monday afternoon.
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