VOORHEES, N.J. — Trevor Zegras recorded his 200th NHL point last Tuesday in Montreal. It was a skillful pass on a two-man advantage in the first period of the Philadelphia Flyers’ eventual 5-4 shootout win over the Canadiens, when Zegras floated to the top of the circle, pivoted, and served up a cross-ice, backhand dish on a tee to Cam York, who blasted a one-timer just inside the near post.
The point had meaning for Zegras, but it wasn’t because he reached that particular number, which he didn’t even realize he hit until someone told him after the game.
It was something else entirely.
“It means more that it was to Cam, honestly,” Zegras said. “One of my best buddies of all time. So, that’s pretty cool.”
Zegras, by all accounts, has fit into the Flyers’ dressing room as seamlessly as general manager Daniel Briere probably hoped when he acquired the talented forward from the Anaheim Ducks in the offseason. Having York here helps, just like having friends Jamie Drysdale and Christian Dvorak has, too.
That good energy has translated on the ice, where Zegras has managed 16 points (four goals, 12 assists) in his first 15 games headed into Wednesday night’s home meeting with Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers.
“It’s just fun to be at the rink, which is nice,” Zegras said Sunday. “It makes you want to give 110 percent at everything that you’re doing, which definitely helps your game on the ice.”
Flyers captain Sean Couturier credited Zegras for aiding the atmosphere for the 8-5-2 Flyers, too.
“He brings a lot of that energy, as well,” Couturier said. “He’s a young player with a lot of talent, a lot of potential. He’s got that potential to change a game (by) himself when he wants, when he can. That’s something I think we’ve been looking for for a couple of years. … We’ve just got to keep building around him.”
All of it has fueled chatter about a potential contract extension for Zegras, a pending restricted free agent who is in the final year of a three-year, $17.25 million deal. Zegras, unsurprisingly, dismissed the outside noise when asked about it directly.
“I haven’t thought about it once,” he said. “I feel like that’s just kind of a distraction. Playing some good hockey right now. That stuff will take care of itself in the long haul. But it’s not something I’m thinking about.”
To be clear — and with the caveat that these things can always change quickly — according to Flyers and league sources, there isn’t anything imminent when it comes to the club inking the 24-year-old Zegras to any sort of deal, either short or long term. Both sides, though, are pleased with his progress and believe that he’s in a good place from a happiness standpoint.
Briere has shown patience with just about all of his restricted free agents. Owen Tippett was signed to an eight-year extension on Jan. 26, 2024, but after last season, new contracts for York, Noah Cates and Tyson Foerster all came in the summer. While Zegras’ start has been encouraging, it’s still probably a bit too early to believe that anything is on the immediate horizon.
Still, it’s worth digging into what Zegras might be worth if that time comes. We posed that question to our resident number-cruncher, Dom Luszczyszyn, who offered the following charts:
If the Flyers believe Zegras to be the point-per-game player he’s been to this point in the season, they’d almost certainly have no problem giving him a contract worth $7.8 million annually. At the same time, if Zegras believes his start is real, too, it stands to reason that his camp’s ask will eclipse that figure by multiple millions, particularly in a rising-cap world. Zegras’ ceiling, as he’s shown lately, still figures to be higher than all of the above comparables, too. Strictly from a term perspective, perhaps something along the lines of York’s five-year extension makes the most sense here.
From a dollar perspective, it’s fair to wonder if the Flyers might get some sort of slight discount on Zegras, considering how much he seems to enjoy being here so far. The player has had only glowing things to say about the organization since the day he arrived, and he reinforced that again Sunday.
“I just think the organization is such good people from top to bottom that it’s just great,” he said. “I think if you have that as a base of your franchise, it’s a heck of a start if you want to get better from there. We’ve got a bunch of young guys that have seemed to be together for awhile. I think if you want to win, you’ve got to grow and learn together. I think this year we’ve definitely grown a lot, and learned a lot, too. There’s definitely a lot of positives.”
Zegras seems to be shedding the reputation that he brought with him from Anaheim, too. It was a reputation that precipitated new coach Rick Tocchet sitting down with Zegras before the season began, in order to ensure that the player wasn’t “doing stuff for clicks on social media,” but was rather “doing stuff to win hockey games.”
“He doesn’t want to be (perceived that way) and I think that’s helping his game,” Tocchet said on Oct. 29. “And, that’s what he wants.”
That was evident after Saturday’s 3-2 Flyers overtime loss to the Senators, in which Zegras erred on a line change, leading to Tim Stützle’s game-winner. When the media entered the Flyers dressing room, Zegras was sitting by himself, still with most of his gear on, with a glum frown painted across his face.
“It just stung a little bit,” Zegras said the day after. “Felt like we battled real hard, and it sucked not to get the two points.”
Tocchet has seen that sort of accountability from Zegras often.
“When he might have a couple of turnovers, I’ve heard it six, seven times already — he’ll come off and say, ‘That’s my man (to cover),’” Tocchet said. “He’s accountable. He knows what we want and what he wants from himself. So that’s half the battle, when a player recognizes it’s his fault. I’ve coached some guys and they (say), ‘It’s not my fault.’ Not Trevor. He wants to refine his game. He’s always chasing his game.”
At some point, whether it’s next week or next summer, Zegras may have to decide what the next step is in his career.
What’s most important to him?
“I want to win, man. I want to win so bad,” Zegras said. “We’ve got a good squad in here with a lot of good guys. … I just… I want to win.”
