How Trevor Zegras can transform Flyers’ offensive identity

As the citizens of Philadelphia trudged through record-breaking heat Monday morning, Flyers general manager Daniel Briere pulled off a trade that set the fan base ablaze on what is historically known as one of the spiciest dates in Flyers history.

Add the acquisition of Trevor Zegras to the laundry list of major Flyers transactions taking place on June 23.

Selected by the Anaheim Ducks with the ninth-overall pick in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, Zegras has become a household name in hockey circles thanks to his dazzling skill and offensive creativity. Notoriously, he is recognized for pulling off one of the most uniquely spectacular plays in NHL history — the \"Dishigan\" flip pass to Sonny Milano in 2021.

Zegras experienced a meteoric rise to fame overnight following his never-before-seen highlight-reel play, but his legend has only grown from there. He has scored three Michigan goals since that famed lob pass to Milano, cementing him as one of the NHL\'s most dynamic talents with the puck on his stick.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QAIDnaYGpM

After logging 60-plus points in his first two campaigns as a full-time NHLer, Zegras appeared destined to reach a stratospheric level of stardom. However, due to a series of injuries and a regime change in Anaheim, his stock has never been lower. Since the start of the 2023-24 season, he has logged just 18 goals and 47 points in 88 games, was benched by former Ducks head coach Greg Cronin, and even found himself relegated to playing third-line minutes on a largely unspectacular Anaheim roster.

Now, after buying low on the offensive savant, the Flyers are hoping to be the beneficiaries of a Zegras resurgence. And if all goes according to plan, the 24-year-old could help transform the Flyers\' attack from unsatisfactory to invigorating.

Perhaps most notably, Zegras immediately fills a hole the Flyers have been keen on addressing since the start of Briere\'s tenure as general manager.

The center position.

Zegras often lined up on the wing toward the end of his tenure with Anaheim, but he admittedly views himself as a natural center. He will likely have every opportunity to carve out a role as a top-six center with the Flyers, but that decision, of course, lies in the hands of new Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet.

\"I\'ve played center I guess my whole career up until two seasons ago, and I\'ve always felt more comfortable there,\" Zegras said during his media availability Tuesday. \"I think there are definitely areas I need to work on, whether it\'s in the faceoff circle or below the goal line or in front of the net in the D zone. I think it was good to play the wing and learn that position and the responsibilities. See, I guess, where it goes with the new coach and the new team, but would definitely be exciting to be back in the middle for sure.\"

Faceoffs will certainly be an area of emphasis as Zegras looks to round out his game as a center. Since joining the NHL full-time, his most productive season in the faceoff dot came during the 2022-23 season, when he won 41.4% of his draws.

For reference, Sean Couturier won 56.1% of his draws last season.

Though faceoff percentage is something of an overrated statistic, losing 60% of draws likely won\'t do Zegras any favors, especially in a game so heavily dictated by possession. In fact, that poor metric may help illustrate Zegras\' less-than-flattering 5-on-5 play-driving numbers in recent years.

Zegras was a solid 5-on-5 play-driver as a first-year NHLer in 2021-22, posting an impressive 51.17 Corsi For percentage and 51.56 Expected Goals For percentage. Since then, though, the numbers aren\'t pretty. In his last season lining up primarily at center (the 2022-23 season), his 5-on-5 CF% dipped to 46.90 while his xGF% saw an even bigger decrease, plummeting to 42.78. To his credit, however, he outperformed the vast majority of his teammates in both categories that season, indicated a team-wide incompetence rather than an individual one.

For context, that 2022-23 Ducks team was the worst in the NHL, finishing the season with just 58 points.

Still, Zegras\' play-driving numbers haven\'t improved much since the start of the 2023-24 season, when he began his shift to wing. His 46.28 5-on-5 CF% ranks eighth among all Ducks forwards to earn at least 700 minutes of 5-on-5 ice time over the last two seasons, while his 46.14 xGF% ranks ninth. The Ducks\' team-wide struggles to drive play shouldn\'t lie solely on Zegras\' shoulders, of course, but there is clear room for improvement in that realm as he makes his move to Philadelphia.

At 6-foot, 185 pounds, Zegras also doesn\'t bring the ideal size many hope for in a top-six center. Tocchet-coached clubs historically focus on playing hard-nosed hockey with a focus on heavy forechecking and winning puck battles along the wall.

Zegras\' slight frame doesn\'t exactly fit the mold of a forechecking demon. But that also may not be as problematic as some would assume. While the dump-and-chase style will undoubtedly be present with Tocchet behind the bench, the Flyers\' new offensive system will be far from one-dimensional.

\"Do we want to dump the puck in all the time? No. You\'ve got to be calculated, though,\" Tocchet told Jason Myrtetus on Flyers Daily . \"Do you want a [Matvei] Michkov to dump the puck in every time? Of course not. You want him to be a creative guy who can make plays. So there\'s a give and take, and you\'ve got to find that balance.\"

Zegras\' overall fit as a center is still very much a topic of debate, but when he\'s in space and has time to utilize his skill and vision, there\'s no doubting his natural talent. For that reason, one area he\'ll immediately help the Flyers improve will be the power play.

The Flyers\' power play has ranked dead last in the NHL in three of the last four campaigns, and without the presence of Matvei Michkov last season, their power play very well could have finished 32nd in the league for a fourth consecutive year.

But with Zegras in the fold, the Flyers now have not one, but two of the most offensively skilled players in hockey to deploy on the man advantage.

Zegras and Michkov on the ice at the same time could be a spectacle.

Michkov has already established himself as a difference-maker on the power play, leading the Flyers with 17 power-play points on the season alongside Travis Konecny, while Zegras will need to bounce back after two years of mediocre power-play production — he tallied just five power-play points over his last 88 games.

Prior to the Ducks\' hiring of Greg Cronin, however, Zegras was a legitimate weapon on the power play. He registered 17 power-play points in both the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons and ranked third on the Ducks in power-play points per 60 with 4.8 over that two-season span (minimum 100 minutes of power-play time on ice).

Given his struggles in the faceoff circle, it\'s unlikely Zegras will be taking draws on the man advantage — Couturier will likely take on that role. But a potential top power-play unit comprised of Zegras, Michkov, Konecny, Couturier, and Jamie Drysdale — one of Zegras\' closest friends — should(!) provide sufficient ammunition to keep the Flyers from being the power-play bottom dwellers fans have become accustomed to.

Another area Zegras\' high-end skill will come in handy? Shootouts.

The Flyers led all NHL teams with nine games resulting in shootouts last season, finishing with a 6-3 shootout record — a pleasant surprise given their historically dreadful execution in the mini skills competition.

Since entering the league, Zegras leads the entire NHL with a 61.9% conversion rate in the shootout (minimum 10 shootout attempts dating back to the 2020-21 season). He\'s a wizard with the puck. So much so that the NHL had no choice but to let him exhibit his insane puck skills at the NHL All-Star Game in 2022.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI2uTALeMQg&t=99s

Zegras is electric. But as exciting as he is, he\'s also far from perfect.

After back-to-back down seasons, and with a contract that\'s set to expire next summer, Zegras has a lot to prove. But despite all of the uncertainties, the upside could be colossal. Briere hasn\'t been afraid to bet on talent in the past, and if his latest reclamation project pans out, it could positively shift the course of the Flyers for the foreseeable future.

Statistics courtesy of Natural Stat Trick and NHL.com .

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