The Philadelphia Flyers made a big splash in the trade market, scooping up young center Trevor Zegras from the Anaheim Ducks for not a whole lot of value going the other way. Some fans are already calling it a steal, and we can’t disagree with them.
General manager Danny Briere tossed a couple of draft picks and Ryan Poehling — who was the team’s fourth-line center anyways — over to Southern California and got a player that has skill just pouring out of him and wants to entertain us just so badly. And, Zegras might have already been telling us signs that he is a potential perfect Flyer all the way back in 2023.
In a game hosting the Pittsburgh Penguins on Feb. 10, 2023, towards the end of the second period, Zegras attempted a shot after the play was whistled dead as just a little bit of a toss to Penguins netminder Casey DeSmith. After he did that, it really pissed off one Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh captain went to go give the youngster a shove, which caused a bit of havoc.
Sidney Crosby did NOT like Trevor Zegras taking a shot after the Ducks were whistled for an offside. 🫢 pic.twitter.com/RMhVE0NEgr
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) February 11, 2023
Now, due to some lost footage on the Bally Sports broadcast for some reason, we don’t actually see if DeSmith needed to make a save or it just ended up in the back of the net after the whistle. But, regardless, it caused Crosby to revert back to his rookie days and get all heated. Sure, it’s not the most gentleman thing to do, to toss a puck around in between whistles, but it is also hilarious to see Crosby lose his cool.
It might not have been apparent in that moment, but Zegras was clearly just setting himself up to become a Flyer. He already had his best friend Cam York on the team, and his other pal Jamie Drysdale was injured and was about to be traded to the Flyers in a year’s time. There was something Philadelphian in the back of his head, yelling and screaming at him to just get under the skin of several Penguins.
Maybe there is an inner rat that new teammate Travis Konecny can help Zegras unleash onto the world. A player that can score a Michigan goal one shift, and then shove around and smile back as opposing players get red in the face. And in that game against the Penguins, Zegras also scored a goal and had five shots on goal. Not bad at all.
Through 268 games in Anaheim, Zegras scored 67 goals and 186 points while averaging 17:41 TOI.
It’s just great to see the newest Flyer have a history of pointing and laughing and ruining the days of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
