Anaheim, Calif. – The Anaheim Ducks traded Trevor Zegras to the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday, ending the exciting forward’s inconsistent half-decade in Orange County.
The Ducks get forward Ryan Poehling and the 45th overall pick in the upcoming draft that initially belonged to Columbus, along with a fourth-round pick next season.
Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek said he dealt away the Ducks’ charismatic former leading scorer in part because Zegras no longer fit the Ducks’ roster as they attempt to end their seven-year playoff drought.
“You start imagining lines and how you want certain players to complement each other,” Verbeek said. “We started looking at that scenario, so ultimately we made the decision to move Trevor because of that.”
Zegras is a natural center who wants to be a playmaker in the middle, but rising stars Leo Carlsson and Mason McTavish have earned those spots on Anaheim’s top two lines, which has forced Zegras to play left wing or to center a depth line. The Ducks also recently acquired longtime Rangers forward Chris Kreider, who works out with Zegras in the summer, to play left wing on one of their top two lines.
“I think he’ll be given that opportunity in Philadelphia to play center,” Verbeek said. “He’s more creative in the middle of the ice and (not) having to play from the wing. We’re fortunate that there’s Leo and there’s Mason, (but) Trevor has to kind of get pushed to the wing, and that probably doesn’t suit his best attributes.”
Verbeek also acknowledged the financial realities of the deal. Zegras will be a restricted free agent next summer, when the Ducks also will need to re-sign Carlsson, promising forward Cutter Gauthier and talented young defensemen Jackson LaCombe, Pavel Mintyukov and Olen Zellweger.
The big, speedy Poehling will become a key contributor on the Ducks’ awful special teams, Verbeek predicted. Poehling was one of the Flyers’ top penalty-killing forwards last season while scoring 31 points – just one fewer than Zegras.
Verbeek still realizes his decision will rankle some Ducks supporters who won’t be happy to lose the most interesting player on a few terrible Anaheim teams in recent years. Zegras remained a fan favorite at Honda Center throughout his tenure with the Ducks, who hired coach Joel Quenneville last month with the stated goal to return to the playoffs next spring.
Zegras was the Ducks’ first-round pick in 2019, and he had two 60-point seasons early in his NHL career. He finished as the runner-up to Detroit’s Moritz Seider in 2022 for the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie.
Zegras also became well known outside Anaheim for his proficiency with the Michigan goal, in which a player lifts the puck with his stick blade and wraps it into the net from behind.
But the 24-year-old Zegras struggled with injuries and consistency for the past two seasons, scoring just 47 points in 88 combined games. He had 12 goals and 20 assists in 57 games last season, increasing his production at midseason after a slow start and a 22-game absence with a knee injury.
Zegras’ commitment to defense was also widely questioned in Anaheim, although he appeared to make significant strides on that end of the ice last season.
Zegras has been a frequent topic of loud trade rumors for the past two seasons, although Verbeek claimed Monday that “there was never really anything talked about in the past as far as Trevor.”
The Flyers made another major deal with the Ducks in January 2024, with GM Danny Briere sending the disgruntled Gauthier to Anaheim for defenseman Jamie Drysdale, Zegras’ longtime friend. Both Zegras and Drysdale were drafted in the first round by the Ducks before Verbeek took over the front office.
Gauthier had a strong rookie season for Anaheim with 20 goals and 24 assists, while Drysdale scored 20 points with a minus-32 rating last season for the Flyers.
Philadelphia also has a new coach for the upcoming season with the hiring of Rick Tocchet.
Poehling had 12 goals and 19 assists in 68 games as a depth forward for Philadelphia last season. After starting his career in Montreal and getting traded to Pittsburgh for the 2022-23 season, he signed with the Flyers as a free agent and produced the best two offensive seasons of his career.
Schaefer stays positive despite grief and injury
When the time comes for defenseman Matthew Schaefer to take the stage at the NHL draft inside the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles this week, the top-ranked prospect won’t be climbing the stairs alone.
There’s no doubt in Schaefer’s mind his late mother Jennifer will be accompanying him in spirit. It will stand as a joyous moment for the 17-year-old Erie Otters player celebrating the person who’s been at his side for every step even after she died of cancer some 16 months ago.
“I love talking about my mom, because I talk about the happy memories instead of the sad memories,” Schaefer said.
He recalled the times Jennifer suited up in goalie equipment to face shots from him and his older brother. Even when sick, she’d muster the energy to play mini-sticks in the family basement.
“She’s always with me in spirit. I know she has a front-row seat to every game,” Schaefer added. “I just want to carry on her legacy and character and the person she was.”
His mother’s poise and strength are reflected in shaping Schaefer’s upbeat perspective in the face of other losses and setbacks.
Some two months before Schaefer’s mother died, the mother of his billet family was struck and killed by a train in what was ruled a death by suicide. In December, he was in Ottawa representing Canada at the world junior championships when Otters owner and Schaefer’s mentor, Jim Waters, died of a heart attack. Schaefer broke his collarbone at the tournament, forcing him to miss the final three months of the season.
Through it all, Schaefer refuses to be defined by pain and tragedy.
“My mindset has changed a lot with everything. Just seeing what my mom went through, having a smile on her face with cancer kind of trying to bring her down, but she wouldn’t let it,” he said. “She’s the strongest person I’ve ever known.”
No. 1 in Central Scouting rankings
A testament to Schaefer’s perseverance: The 6-foot-2, 183-pound player from Hamilton, Ontario, has remained atop NHL Central Scouting’s rankings among North American skaters with the two-day draft opening on Friday.
Though the debate between ranking Schaefer over high-scoring OHL Saginaw Spirit center Michael Misa was close, scouting director Dan Marr said Schaefer earned the nod because of the development he showed when healthy.
Marr referred to Schaefer as “stealing the show” at Canada’s Under-18 summer camp before scoring six points (two goals, four assists) in captaining Canada to win the Hlinka/Gretzky Cup in August. After missing the start of the OHL season with mononucleosis, he posted 22 points (seven goals, 15 assists) in 17 games with Erie before being sidelined at the world juniors.
“He’s one of the guys I think teams can safely interpret what you see is what you get,” Marr said of a two-way, fluid-skating defenseman who is responsible defensively, a play-maker offensively, and labeled “a special talent” by Central Scouting.
What’s unmeasurable is Schaefer’s character. “He’s just a breath of fresh air,” Marr said.
It’s a quality Otters forward Malcolm Spence saw in Schaefer every day as a roommate.
“He’s a guy that you wouldn’t even know what he’s gone through,” Spence said. “He wakes up every day with a smile on his face.”
Engaging personality
Schaefer’s engaging personality was on display throughout the pre-draft combine in Buffalo, New York, followed by him joining top prospects in attending Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final in Florida. In skipping the combine’s bench-press and pullup testing portions, he urged his fellow prospects to succeed.
In Florida, Schaefer recalled how his hotel room wasn’t ready upon arrival, so he took advantage of a sunny day.
“We got a little tan going on, a couple of us,” he said. “I’m happy with that. I’m pretty light as it is. I have a hockey rink tan, as I’d say.”
The only thing fazing him was being awestruck in meeting several NHL players, including Florida’s Brad Marchand and Edmonton’s Connor McDavid, a former Otters player who went No. 1 in the 2015 draft.
Schaefer elicited a laugh when saying he was rooting for the Oilers, before noting he failed to mention that in meeting Marchand.
Sharing his story
There is a serious side to Schaefer, evident during the combine. He made a point to visit a Buffalo-area outreach group for grieving youths.
Gwen Mysiak, co-founder of Western New York Compassion Connection, was impressed by how Schaefer engaged an audience that included about 15 youths, ranging in ages 7 to 17.
“When he walked through these doors, you sensed the genuine nature he has, and how passionate he is to make a difference with all his pain,” she said.
“To have peer support coming from a young man like that on the precipice of his NHL career was a gift,” added Mysiak, whose husband died two years ago. “I will be watching the NHL draft for the first time in my life because he really captured our hearts.”
Schaefer said the visit was the least he could do, noting he skipped his high school graduation ceremony to be there.
“There’s young kids that are going through tough times. A lot of people love to keep it in, and I want to try to put their minds at ease in any way,” Schaefer said, before reflecting on his experiences.
“You know, if love could have saved them, they would have lived forever. That’s a good saying I go by,” he said. “But everything happens for a reason in life. Makes me super stronger. And I want to help people.”
Bruins sign defenseman Lohrei to extension
The Boston Bruins on Monday signed defenseman Mason Lohrei to a two-year contract extension with an annual cap hit of $3.2 million.
Lohrei, 24, scored five goals with 28 assists last season and has totaled nine goals and 37 assists in 118 career games with the Bruins.
The 6-foot-5, 220-pound defenseman led Boston defensemen in assists, points and power play points last season, when top defensemen Charlie McAvoy and Elias Lindholm missed time with injuries.
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