After yesterday's 6-3 loss to the New York Rangers, the Philadelphia Flyers' losing streak now sits at six games. The losing is bad enough, but the injury bug struck again as well, further weakening their depth.
Early in the loss to the Rangers, Rodrigo Abols appeared to have the toe of his skate stick in the ice, causing his leg to twist in an unnatural way. He went down immediately, and was only able to leave the ice with the assistance of his teammates and the training staff; after the game, head coach Rick Tocchet confirmed it was as bad as it looked.
Tocchet on Abols' injury: "Yeah, it's not good. I'm not gonna get into it, but it's not good."
— Charlie O'Connor (@charlieo_conn) January 17, 2026
That's a bummer for Abols, who was set to represent Team Latvia at the Olympics in a few weeks; that doesn't seem likely at all now.
For the Flyers, however, there's not been a better opportunity this season to play Trevor Zegras at center.
Zegras has been one of, if not the biggest story of the Flyers' season: he has 19 goals and 44 points in 47 games and has brought a level of skill this team hasn't seen in years. The only "problem," if you could call it that, is that Zegras was brought in with the expectation he'd play center, and he's spent the bulk of this season on the wing of the recently re-signed Christian Dvorak. Now, though, as disappointing as it is to lose Abols to injury, Zegras should be given a chance down the middle.
Sure, the Flyers could call up one of the players from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms to replace Abols, but is that the best use of a roster spot? Zegras is here, now, and spent the first few seasons of his career playing center--it would be foolish not to afford him the chance to do so once again. If it doesn't work, no sweat--you just move him back to wing and figure out something else.
The reward, however, is the Flyers find a high-skill center to play in their top six for years to come; all they have to do is give it a try.