Philadelphia Flyers Trade for Trevor Zegras Ahead of 2025 NHL Draft

The Philadelphia Flyers have made a significant move by acquiring center Trevor Zegras from the Anaheim Ducks, mere days before the 2025 NHL draft.

In exchange, the Flyers are sending center Ryan Poehling, along with a second-round pick in 2025 from the Columbus Blue Jackets (45th overall) and a fourth-round pick in 2026 to Anaheim.

Zegras, selected ninth overall in the 2019 NHL draft after his tenure at Boston University, has faced challenges in recent seasons, playing only 88 games between 2023-24 and 2024-25 due to injuries.

During the last season, he recorded 12 goals and accumulated 32 points over 57 games, achieving a shooting percentage of 12.2%.

Despite these setbacks, the 24-year-old has previously demonstrated his potential, notching back-to-back seasons with over 60 points at ages 20 and 21. His rookie season in 2021-22 was particularly notable, as he scored 23 goals and tallied 61 points, earning a place on the NHL's All-Rookie Team.

Additionally, Zegras was featured as the cover athlete for EA Sports' "NHL 23," highlighting his prominence in the league.

Currently, he has one year remaining on a three-year contract extension worth $17.25 million, which he signed in October 2023.

Prior to this trade, Flyers general manager Danny Briere had a total of 11 draft selections, including seven within the first two rounds for this weekend's NHL draft. Following the acquisition of Zegras, that number has decreased to 10 overall and six within the first 50 picks.

The Flyers have identified a pressing need for a center within their organization, and many analysts anticipate that they will address this gap during the draft.

Bringing Zegras into the fold adds a highly skilled center to the Flyers' roster, aligning with their ongoing rebuild strategy.

Briere previously indicated that while the Flyers are still in a rebuilding phase, they are transitioning into a new stage of development.

"I think we're at a stage now where we're going to shift a little bit from subtracting from the roster into trying to start to add and help the team," Briere stated during his end-of-season press conference.

The trade for Zegras marks a pivotal step in this evolving strategy.