One thing was made clear almost immediately after the Philadelphia Flyers acquired Trevor Zegras: The young forward wanted to rebuild his reputation across the hockey world.
In one of his first opportunities to speak with the media as a member of the Flyers, Zegras spoke at-length about not wanting to be known for his flashy plays or trickshots on the ice anymore, but just as “a hockey player”. Someone who contributes to winning games rather than getting noticed on social media. That was the main sentiment and now as he is close to wrapping up his first regular season in Philadelphia, he is doing exactly what he wanted.
Countless hockey people around the game and in media, soured on Zegras throughout his tenure with the Anaheim Ducks and publicly wondered if he can even be someone good enough to play center in the NHL, and be more than just score some points while being abysmal defensively. The 24-year-old forward was maybe the poster boy for all the complaints more traditional hockey men have about the modern game and how all players aren’t 6-foot-2 fire hydrants who go back to ol’ pappi’s farm in the offseason.
Now, as the Flyers close in on a playoff spot for the first time in several years, Zegras is at the center of it and has been one of the most consistent forces on this team. Oh, and thankfully, he’s playing down the middle and doing incredibly well at it.
Trevor Zegras wants to play meaningful hockey with the Flyers
On Tuesday night, in a crucial 5-1 win over the New Jersey Devils that took the Flyers’ playoff odds from a coin flip to more likely than not, Zegras had two massive goals that instantly put his opponents on the back foot. Two team-wide efforts where all skaters on the ice were driven to create that goal with Zegras being the one to slam dunk it into the back of the net with two absolute rockets.
But wait! There's MORE!#PHIvsNJD | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/UbVHYPesnO
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) April 7, 2026
Two goals within the first four minutes of the game which essentially put the game away as the Devils were unable to get past the Flyers more than once in the following 56 minutes.
In one of the most important games of the season, and with the spotlight on him to come up big in this spot, Zegras was able to come out and contribute to a crucial win.
All he’s wanted to do is be able to play in these moments and be that player that teams rely on to score these types of goals, and now he’s doing it. He’s becoming that all-around competitive player and has shed that rotten reputation of playing a more individual game. Zegras is doing what he set out to do several months ago.
“Yeah, I mean, right from the beginning, Trevor came to us, you know, he wants to play meaningful games and I hate using the word playoffs, but he wants to make the playoffs. He hasn’t played a playoff game and I think he wants to prove a lot of people wrong,” Flyers coach Rick Tocchet told the media after Tuesday’s win. “He played with a chip on his shoulder this year and I love that he played with a chip on his shoulder. He pushes the pace, and like I said, he’s a really good locker room guy.”
It’s that chip on his shoulder that has driven Zegras to new heights. With the two goals Tuesday night, he set a new career-high with 25 goals and tied his other career-high with 65 points. He’s doing it now with more responsibility down the middle, and leading his line that features Owen Tippett and Tyson Foerster as an all-around, triple threat that can control almost every facet of the game in all three zones — in the 35 minutes that line has been on the ice since being put together, they have 66.43 percent of the expected goals share and have outshot the opponent 12-8.
This is the position (on and off the ice) that Zegras has been dying to be in.
“It feels like for almost a month now, that we’ve been playing must-win games,” Zegras said Tuesday night. “Definitely feeling more comfortable and definitely settling in a little bit, for sure. … I know personally for me, I haven’t played in any games, other than this season, of this magnitude and I think a lot of the other guys would say the same, so it’s been great.”
The Flyers will continue this regular season with another chance to make the playoffs even more of a reality with a matchup against the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night.
