June 23, 2025
Trevor Zegras is a risk, but one the Philadelphia Flyers are in a good spot to take.
They're at a lack for quality center depth, and it's no secret, Danny Brière admitted over a video conference call Monday evening.
The Flyers' general manager also acknowledged that injuries and a dropoff in production over the past couple of years were the main – and from the outside concerning – reasons why Zegras was even available to them for trade with Anaheim in the first place.
But Brière also stressed a week earlier to the press in Voorhees that top-six forwards are rarely ever made available by the teams that have them.
Zegras, at age 24, still has the talent and potential to be one, and at a cost that, all things considered, really won't hurt the Flyers that much if it doesn't turn out.
It's a risk they can take.
"A risk worth taking for us," Brière said Monday.
Because if it works, then the Flyers get the top-line center they've been missing ever since their rebuilding efforts began in earnest two years ago.
Trade buzz started just past noon, and then the deal was made official soon after. Zegras is on his way to Philadelphia, and going back to the Ducks is depth center Ryan Poehling, the 45th overall pick in the second round of the NHL Draft this Saturday, and a fourth-round pick in 2026.
A former first-round pick himself at ninth overall by the Ducks in 2019, Zegras once looked to be shaping up as one of the NHL's next big stars, with flashy offensive skills and highlight-reel goals that quickly hit social media virality.
He was a 20-goal, 60-point level player in his first two full seasons in the league, but his stats weren't what jumped off the page, it was the Michigans and every other unreal move he seemed to pull out of his hat.
Those disappeared, though. Zegras got hurt, missed significant time as a result, and once he was back on the ice, his fit in Anaheim wasn't exactly clear anymore. He only played 31 and then 57 games over the past two seasons, scoring just 18 goals across each, and appeared to fall into limbo with stress from the Ducks to prioritize defense while other promising names like Mason McTavish, Leo Carlsson, and (to Flyers' fans' resentment) Cutter Gauthier became the new faces of Anaheim's rebuild.
The generally held belief throughout was that Zegras would benefit from a change of scenery, which tossed his name around in trade rumors for months, with a few of them having linked him to the Flyers.
On Monday, Brière more or less confirmed that there were talks with Anaheim about Zegras for a while.
"You don't really decide when a trade really happens until you both agree," Brière said. "There's times that we've had some discussions about Trevor, and in the past, there's times where it wasn't feasible on our end. Some of the times, or most of the time, it was probably Anaheim not willing to let go of him.
"We just got to a point where the timing was right for both teams, and it made sense this morning to do it."
For a risk that made all the sense for the Flyers to take.
They're going to miss Poehling, Brière said, but the reality for the team is that it already has several younger players waiting in the wings to fill that bottom-six spot in the lineup – Karsen Dorwart, Rodrigo Ābols, and last summer's first-round pick Jett Luchanko were among the mentioned candidates.
What the Flyers don't have, though, is that high-end top-six talent up the middle of the ice; that player to put alongside and grow with rising star Matvei Michkov; that clear-cut first-line center.
Brière, as he usually does, held his cards close to the vest on whether Zegras would actually play center, saying the call is up to new head coach Rick Tocchet.
But the risk the Flyers are taking is to see if he can, at the spot in the lineup where they really need it most.
"We feel good about it because of what he's shown in the past," Brière said. "We hope he can find that magic again and take it to another level."
Because so will the Flyers if he does.
MORE: An early Flyers lineup projection with Zegras in it
Another part of the shock from Monday's Zegras trade: The Flyers didn't part with any of their first-round picks, for this year or next.
Apparently, those were off limits.
"Obviously, the first-round picks for us were a no-go from the start," Brière said. "We spent a lot of time and a lot of frustration acquiring those, so we're trying to be extra careful with that."
Another aspect of the deal that helps minimize any possible damage should it not pan out: Zegras is on the last year of his contract at a $5.75 million cap hit.
"I mean, time will tell where he can take his game," Brière said of Zegras' longer-term future.
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