For Trevor Zegras, the trade to the Flyers is not just a refresh, it is also a homecoming of sorts
The forward crafted his flashy moves growing up in New York state. Zegras' parents are glad they'll be able to catch his games now that he's not playing in Anaheim anymore.
Gary Zegras answered his phone early on a Monday in June. On the other end was his son, Trevor, who was heading to the same rink in Connecticut where Gary was.
“I think I’m getting traded,” Gary recalled Trevor saying to him. Trevor had been at the gym, and when he finally looked at his phone, he had a bunch of text messages.
“Oh, no, you’re getting traded,” Gary responded matter-of-factly, knowing that Pat Brisson, Trevor’s agent, had been trying to get in touch with him. It was the only thing that made sense, Gary remembered thinking.
The truth is, the call could have been about a contract extension, with Trevor set to be a restricted free agent next July 1 and about to enter the final year of his deal. But the writing had been on the wall for a while that the Anaheim Ducks and their flashy forward were heading for a divorce.
The proud dad’s intuition was correct. On June 23, Zegras was acquired by the Flyers for Ryan Poehling, the 45th overall pick in June’s draft (which the Ducks used to draft center Eric Nilson), and the Flyers’ fourth-round pick in 2026.
» READ MORE: Trade grade: Danny Brière hits a home run with low-risk, high-reward move for Trevor Zegras
Flyers fans are excited for the opportunity to see the uber-talented American don orange and black. Zegras, meanwhile, is pumped to get back to playing center after skating on the wing the last two seasons for the Ducks.
Both sides hope he can replicate the eye-popping start to his career. He was a runner-up for the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie in 2021-22 and emerged as one of the young faces of the game while averaging 23 goals and 63 points over his first two full seasons. In contrast, the last two seasons have been underwhelming — 18 goals and 47 points in 88 games — with Zegras hampered by injuries, inconsistency, and a bad fit with notoriously tough head coach Greg Cronin.
But while this trade is a chance for Zegras to hit the refresh button on his career, it’s also about family.
“I’m very excited to play in the [Metropolitan Division], just because of how close it is to home,” he said in June at the Flyers’ draft party in Atlantic City. “My family didn’t get to come out to California a ton while I was there, so they’re definitely excited.”
I’m very excited to play in the [Metropolitan Division], just because of how close it is to home.
Zegras said his parents, Julie and Gary, were even happier than he was to learn about the trade.
“Being in New York, those California games start 10, 10:30, and I missed a lot of third periods. As exciting as it was to watch him, you know, it’s late,” said Julie Zegras, who heard the news from a shocked Trevor while working at one of the two clothing stores she owns near their home.
“We’re so excited that we’re going to be able to actually be in person at so many games, and, you know, be able to watch them at a reasonable hour.”
All hockey, all the time
Zegras, 24, grew up about 2½ hours northeast of Philly in the small Westchester County town of Bedford, N.Y., with his parents and younger siblings, brother Griffin and sister Ava. From Day 1, the eldest Zegras sibling was a hockey nut.
“A mini stick or a hockey stick, rollerblades or street hockey or knee hockey, it was constant. It was constant,” Gary Zegras said in early July. “He never wasn’t thinking about the game, watching videos, watching games. Like, he was just, he was all in it. He was all in from the moment he could see it.”
So it makes sense what happened the first time Julie Zegras took Trevor skating at the age of 2½. She wanted him to join the Rising Stars program, a learn-to-skate program at the Darien Ice House, right over the border in Connecticut. But the program started in January, and he didn’t turn the required age of 3 until March.
“I had to beg the guy. I’m like, ‘Please just take this kid. I promise he won’t be a problem,’” she said, noting that Trevor had already gone for a few twirls with Gary. Her husband has been involved in youth hockey for more than 30 years and is the vice president and a Pee-Wee coach for the Mid Fairfield Youth Hockey Association, where Trevor spent his formative years playing the game.
“So they took him, and I’ll never forget showing up at the rink with him — and you know how they have the little cones you put your stick in — and so I get him all dressed, I get him to the door, and I hand him the cone, and he looks at me like I’m out of my mind,“ Julie said. ”He was like, I do not need [this]. He pushed it aside and just went. I was like, ‘OK.’”
From the moment he could stand, Zegras had a hockey stick in his hand. Hockey became an obsession.
It was just the way his brain worked. It was like, if he saw hockey on TV, he would go and grab his stick and just start stick handling.
Zegras would put on rollerblades to go through obstacle courses in front of the house, and skate on a homemade ice rink in the back. He would play knee hockey with Julie’s mother, Nana Sue, in between walking around the house with a stick at all times.
“He was the kind of kid, if you dropped a ball in front of him, he couldn’t help himself but to grab it and start doing something with it,” Julie recalled. “It was just the way his brain worked. It was like, if he saw hockey on TV, he would go and grab his stick and just start stickhandling.”
Elite skill
Although Zegras grew up a New York Rangers fan, like seemingly every American kid of his generation, his favorite player was Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks. It’s no surprise that the kid with a big personality grew up idolizing the winger known as “Showtime” and developed into one of the game’s most confident and creative players.
“Always, always [trying trick shots],” Gary said. “He would start in the knee hockey room, then it would go to the driveway, then we’d go to the practice. … And then if he could try to pull it off in the game, he tried to pull it off in a game."
Zegras catapulted to the forefront of the hockey world with his creativity and puck handling ability in the NHL. Drafted No. 9 by the Ducks in 2019, he became known for his deftness at pulling off “The Michigan” lacrosse-style shot, and then there was that viral 2021 alley-oop pass to Sonny Milano.
He drew acclaim — and ire, specifically from a former Flyers coach — for the move, but to him it was just what he’s always done, and an expression of his confidence on and off the ice.
But Zegras’ legend was building before all of that. In his draft year, and before he headed to Boston University in the fall, the 6-foot, 185-pound winger had 80 points in 67 games for the United States National Team Development Program, and an additional 40 for the team in 27 games in the United States Hockey League.
He did it with Julie by his side in Plymouth, Mich., because, while he started with a billet, she said, “he was really kind of just wanting family there with him.” And it was there where the Zegrases — Trevor and Julie — and the Yorks — Cam and Teri — built their friendship.
“Obviously, we were high school troublemakers together; really good friends,” said a grinning Cam York via Zoom after he signed a new five-year deal with the Flyers in July.
“He brings a skill set that we haven’t seen, probably, in a while. ... He’s just a unique player,” York said. "There’s guys in the league that have skill, and there’s guys that have elite skill, and I would say he’s in that elite category. So obviously, the organization, the fans, should all be super excited, because he’s a guy that can definitely get you out of your seat.”
Zegras has certainly brought USA Hockey fans out of their seats before. Ahead of the gold-medal game at the IIHF World Junior Championship in 2021, he was asked during a TV interview about facing an undefeated powerhouse in Canada.
“I honestly don’t think [Canada’s] been tested with a real team yet, and I think we’re kind of going on all cylinders right now,” he said. “I think we’re going to catch them by surprise, and I think we’ll go from there.”
He backed it up.
Skating alongside York, the team’s captain, the New York native assisted on Alex Turcotte’s opening goal and notched the insurance tally — the second five-on-five goal against the Canadians in the entire tournament — in a 2-0 win. It gave the Americans their first gold since 2017 and fifth in the program’s history. Zegras finished with 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists) and was named the tournament’s MVP.
In that game, he beat his former Ducks and now Flyers teammate Jamie Drysdale.
“They are [the three musketeers],” said Gary, adding that he immediately texted York’s and Drysdale’s fathers after the trade. “Obviously, Cam and Trevor go a little further back; they met when they were 15 years old. And then Jamie and Trevor, from the moment Jamie got to Anaheim, they were as close as you could be. And so it’s exciting that they’re back together. So it’s going to be fun.”
‘Still a kid’
It’s easy to forget how young the trio is, with Zegras and York just 24, and Drysdale drafted a year later and 23. They are now part of a young core for the Orange and Black that includes Matvei Michkov, 20; Tyson Foerster, 23; Bobby Brink, 24; and several rising prospects.
“I can’t say I saw it coming again, to be honest,” Drysdale told The Inquirer last month about their Philly reunion. “It’s pretty fortunate that we’re in this position, especially still relatively early in our careers. I was pretty excited to see we got him and, yeah, obviously, heck of a player.”
The Flyers organization is excited to have Zegras, too, hoping he can revitalize his game and become the high-end No. 1 center they’ve been desperately craving. General manager Danny Brière called the trade a “risk worth making” and acknowledged that Zegras was a player the Flyers have liked for some time.
“We feel good about it because of what he’s shown in the past,” Brière said. “And we hope he can find that magic again and then take it to another level.”
Zegras will not just be entering the throwback machine positionally; stitched on his back will be 46, the number he wore at the start of his career with the Ducks after being drafted by Bob Murray, now a senior adviser with the Flyers.
We feel good about it because of what he’s shown in the past. And we hope he can find that magic again and then take it to another level.
And while Xfinity Mobile Arena is sure to be littered with Zegras No. 46 jerseys, there’s a good chance one of the people wearing one will get a hug from her favorite player postgame.
“I can take a train and be there in a couple of hours. We can go to all the games,” Julie said. “We told him he must have three bedrooms, because we’re coming. So he’s excited about that. He does love support from his family; that’s important to him.”
Trevor Zegras’ hockey career has been building since the day he was born. His parents never pressured him to play; they planted the seed but let it grow freely. It was forged on the streets of Bedford and the cold rinks of Connecticut and Michigan. Now it has a chance to blossom again in Philly near his roots, with his close friends in the same room and his family a car ride away.
Because in the end, for Zegras, it’s all about family and love of the game.
“A couple of weeks ago, he was [in Connecticut], and there’s a little training rink there,” Gary said. “He finished his skate, and there were like eight kids playing pickup hockey on the training rink. He just hopped on and started playing with them — happened to be a couple of my friends’ kids that were out there, and they all sent me photos and videos — and they’re like, look at your son out here playing pickup hockey with our 7-, 8-, 9-year-old kids, and they love it.
“So, yeah, he’s a kid, still.”