The crown jewel addition of the Philadelphia Flyers’ 2025 offseason was 24-year-old forward Trevor Zegras, who they acquired from the Anaheim Ducks for, essentially, free.
But the reason the human highlight reel was picked up so cheap is because it’s been a rough few years for the former star. He’s only played 88 games over the last two seasons thanks to a string of injuries and posted just 47 points in that time.
He’s an exciting addition for a team that hasn’t made many of them over the last decade, but the Flyers are going to put a lot of eggs in his basket during the 2025-26 season to spark the organization’s charge back into the playoffs.
They’re not only banking on Zegras overcoming two years of injuries and sub-par play on the wing, but they’re expecting him to step into the 1C role and post new career highs from his previous 65-point bests. It’s quite the drastic turnaround from the slide he has been on.
Can he reach new career highs during his first season in Philly? The answer is… maybe?
Without a doubt, Zegras is going to play with the best line mates of his career with the Flyers. He’ll be playing center and flanked by some combination of Matvei Michkov, Travis Konecny, Owen Tippett and Tyson Foerster.
It’s a significantly better group than Frank Vatrano, Jakob Silfverberg, Ryan Strome and Troy Terry that he was riding with during his 65-point season in 2022-23, and presents more creative options than his partner in crime Sonny Milano produced the prior season.
Assuming he can stay healthy, which is a big assumption based on recent track records, there’s no reason to think he won’t be one of the top scorers on the team.
The transition back to center will be the much bigger story. According to Zegras, he was moved to the wing against his will in Anaheim, and his play sputtered out from there. The Flyers desperately need him to line up at center again, and he’ll get every opportunity to do so during the season.
While his size and potential lapse in judgment from time to time can be problems, he did play the best hockey of his career at center.
He spends two seasons on the wing and deals with various injuries and his play falls off a cliff, versus his early career time at center when he was one of the top rising stars in the league. There’s certainly some validity to assuming a move back down the middle will pay off well.
And there’s no more John Tortorella lingering around to punish him for every misstep. Although, it sure feels like a missed opportunity to watch those two attempt to coexist. His spiritual successor is here in Rick Tocchet, however, but at least some of Tocchet’s players in Vancouver were allowed to be high scoring, so hopefully he doesn’t completely smother his new toy out of the gate.
Zegras is also BFFs with Jamie Drysdale and Cam York. What kind of connection that will translate to on the ice is a bit murky, mainly because his friends are both defensemen, so it’s not like the chemistry will be super obvious on a shift-by-shift basis. But we know the Flyers love their vibes and culture, so considering the players actually like each other this time and it’s not a straight up cheap marketing slogan, the trio could actually be at the forefront of building a real “culture” now that they’re all united on the same team.
The on-ice version of the Flyers have been a hot mess for years now, and Zegras’ recent play may not be all that spectacular. Both both parties have the pieces that are just waiting to be put together, and maybe they’re the missing link for the other. The Flyers’ copious wingers finally get a dynamic center, and Zegras gets on opportunity on a golden platter to step into a top line role in Philly. As long as the health stays consistent, there’s no reason to think Zegras can’t have a breakout season with the Flyers, and that the Flyers themselves finally break out of the basement of the league’s offense standings they’ve been trapped in forever.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
photo credit: nhl.com
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