The Philadelphia Flyers are looking for improvement his upcoming season after a horrendous final year with John Tortorella. This offseason, the Flyers made a big move as they traded for Anaheim Ducks forward Trevor Zegras, where he will become a top six forward on the team.
The hope is that a change of scenery will work wonders for Zegras, as his tenure with the Ducks started off with such promise, but he never reached those heights again.
Trevor Zegras hopes Flyers tenure will be better than career with Ducks
Zegras made his debut with the Ducks during the 2020-21 season. But in his first full season, Zegras made an immediate impact, as he finished as the runner-up in Calder Trophy voting after recording 23 goals and 38 assists in 75 games. The following year, Zegras had another strong year after putting up 23 goals and 42 assists in 81 games.
Yet, after those two seasons, Zegras never got close to that production level. Zegras was limited to just 31 games during the 2023-24 season. Zegras mentioned in an ESPN article by Greg Wyshynski that the constant changeover in Anaheim could be a reason why. One notable moment was Zegras getting benched by head coach Greg Cronin during the 2023-24 season due to in-game decision-making. That, and Zegras was holding out for a new contract during that offseason and preseason.
"I think when you have a new GM and you're bring in a new coach, I think they want things done their way. And not to say that I wasn't OK with doing everything their way, but I think there were things that maybe we didn't see eye to eye on a ton of the time and maybe they viewed that as a negative thing," Zegras said, h/t ESPN.
"The contract stuff played a role, too," he continued. "That was hard, just from a mental standpoint. That was a year with the new coach and then you kind of come in behind the 8-ball. You get off to a slow start and then that combined with the contract and with the [trade] rumors, it's just not fun. But I've gotta keep playing."
Zegras also noted that Cronin wanted to move him to play wing, even though he is primarily a center. He told Wyshynski that he felt Cronin and general manager Pat Verbeek didn't believe in him, and it affected his mental health.
"The last thing I was thinking about was actually playing hockey at times. That was hard for me. And then you throw in the injuries and then the rehab and the recovery and then getting back to, I guess, the place that you were before. Little things become big things in your head, and it makes it very hard to play against the best players in the world on a night-to-night basis," Zegras said.
"It almost felt like you were alone, when they didn't believe in you."
Now, Zegras has the chance to play the position he wants, center, with the Flyers, who just so happen to not have depth at the position. And, the Flyers want to play him at center, so there won't be any question marks surrounding whether he will be playing center or wing this upcoming season. That should help build up Zegras' confidence. It certainly helps that he gets to play for a head coach in Rick Tocchet, who won the Jack Adams Award for the 2023-24 season for helping lead the Vancouver Canucks to the Western Conference Semifinals.
Zegras career started off with such promise, but his final two years with the organization didn't seem sustainable. The hope is that the change of scenery could work wonders for the center.