The first big deal of the 2025 NHL offseason saw the Philadelphia Flyers trade center Ryan Poehling, the 45th pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, and a fourth-round pick to the Anaheim Ducks for forward Trevor Zegras.
The Flyers are buying low on a supremely talented player in Zegras, a former No. 11 pick, who has scored just 18 goals and 47 points in only 88 games across the last two seasons.
Zegras, 24, has been hampered by a variety of injuries in recent seasons, including a broken left ankle suffered last January. At his best, though, the 6-foot forward is a versatile, skillful agitator who scored north of 60 points in each of his first two full seasons in the NHL.
The Flyers, desperate for centers and talented left-shot wingers, will be happy to take the risk on Zegras, who was being sold extremely low by the Ducks.
In his NHL career, Zegras has played left wing, center, and right wing, though the context of this Flyers trade suggests he'll be playing center.
It can be safely presumed that Zegras is now the primary running mate for star sophomore Matvei Michkov, giving the Flyers at least three forward duos they can rely on: Zegras and Michkov, Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny, and Tyson Foerster and Noah Cates.
The flexibility Zegras brings with his positional versatility is key, as it allows the Flyers to choose whoever they want with the No. 6 pick in the 2025 draft without thinking too much about long-term ramifications.
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Playmaking centers like James Hagens and Jake O'Brien work equally as well as a cerebral sniper like Porter Martone; Zegras is now the chess piece the Flyers can move around freely.
Grade: A
This trade was a slam dunk for Danny Briere's first transaction of the offseason. The Flyers badly needed some fresh faces and, more than anything else, a higher floor and a higher ceiling offensively.
It would be dishonest to say that Ryan Poehling isn't a loss for the Flyers, too. Indeed, Poehling is on the last year of his contract and effectively a fourth-line center, but he is capable of playing up and down the lineup in a pinch, skates like the wind, works hard, and kills penalties.
Centers like Poehling are valuable in the NHL, but the Ducks got one from the Flyers at a cost that many wouldn't agree with.
Reiterating the assumption that Zegras plays center for the Flyers, Philadelphia's immediate center depth will consist of Zegras, Couturier, and Cates with someone like Jett Luchanko, Karsen Dorwart, Rodrigo Abols, or perhaps a free agent signing slotting in behind them.
It should be noted that Zegras, like Poehling, is in the last year of his contract, but will instead be an RFA at the end of the season. The former top Ducks draft pick carries a salary of $5.75 million, which is no issue given the Flyers have $15 million in cap space still remaining.
To earn any kind of substantial raise, Zegras will assuredly have to return to his 60-point form, if not better.
Looking ahead to the 2025 draft later this week, the Flyers still have six picks in the first two rounds, including all three of their first-round picks.
This is key, as acquiring that high-upside talent in Zegras leaves the Flyers with their best trade assets still in hand. Or, they could simply use those picks on prospects. The choice is theirs.
In the second round, the Flyers still own the 36th, 40th, and 48th picks.
With previous rumors surrounding defensemen like Nicolas Hague and Alexander Romanov, as well as the persisting talk around prized KHL free agent Maxim Shabanov, look for the Flyers to remain busy and active over the next several days.