Trevor Zegras Has Rediscovered His Swagger And Smile With The Flyers

Dallas Eakins coaches in southwest Germany, roughly 4,000 miles away from Philadelphia, however nonetheless will get requested about Trevor Zegras.

It’s not onerous to grasp why. Zegras is understood for his flash and finesse, executing “Michigan” goals and viral no-look passes, and you may have a giant persona to match.

There are some who do not approve. On Dec. 7, 2021, in a sport in opposition to the Buffalo Sabres, Zegras’ elite talent produced one among the most memorable highlights of the yr.

The then-20-year-old skated behind the web, cradled the puck onto his stick, and flipped it over the goaltender to his Anaheim Ducks teammate, Sonny Milano, who batted it in.

Former Flyers coach John Tortorella questioned on an ESPN broadcast whether or not the play was “good for the game” (a remark he later walked again).

In April 2022, Arizona Coyotes TV analyst Tyson Nash accused Zegras of making an attempt to “skill it up,” following one among his lacrosse-style photographs, cautioning that “hot dogging” may come with penalties.

This is all to say that Zegras, now 25, is commonly at the intersection of the debate between old fashioned and new faculty, a spot he would presumably quite not be.

And when Eakins is requested about the polarizing star, whom he has coached in Anaheim from 2020-23, he leans on a typical chorus.

“One of the most misunderstood people in the NHL,” Eakins, 59, mentioned. “Because everybody looks at him like, ‘Oh, he’s this cocky punk, surfer guy. Calls everybody dude. He doesn’t give a [expletive].’

“And I’m like, ‘He is so aggressive. He needs to be the perfect.’ He does. And making an attempt to show him into one thing else… it is not an important plan.”

Eakins would know. When he was working in Anaheim, he mentioned individuals inside the group would name to ask if he’d inform Zegras to cease doing “The Michigan.”

The coach would politely decline.

“I was like, ‘Why?’” he recalled. “’He can do it. He can do it at full speed.’”

Things went downhill for Zegras after Eakins was fired in April 2023. He was changed by Greg Cronin, a strict disciplinarian who moved Zegras from heart to wing. The former first-round decide was hampered by accidents, and his title started to flow into in commerce rumors.

To make issues worse, in January 2024, his closest buddy on the staff and longtime roommate, Jamie Drysdalewas traded to the Flyers.

“It made it less fun, for sure,” Zegras mentioned. “Just because it was pretty unexpected. Sports are weird like that. One day, you’re sitting next to him on the plane, and then [the next]he’s gone.”

The guy who had graced the cover of EA Sports’ NHL 23 started to look more reserved. He told ESPN that he found himself “overthinking things,” which detrimentally affected his mental health.

But these days are over. Zegras was traded to the Flyers final June, and is in the center of the greatest season of his profession, en path to his first Stanley Cup playoff look.

He’s reunited with Drysdale, has met with his new teammates, has a coach in Rick Tocchet who believes in him, and says he is having “more fun” this yr.

And Eakins can see a difference, even an ocean away.

“It looks like he’s got his swagger back,” he said. “And it’s important for him to play with swagger.”

‘The Odd Couple’

Drysdale and Zegras’ friendship has been well-documentedand it began in the most unconventional of the way. The first prolonged time they spent collectively was in 2021, on their approach again from World Juniors.

Because of the COVID-19 outbreak, the beginning of the NHL season had been pushed to January. Neither rookie had played a game for the Ducks yet, and were still in the throes of international competition.

Zegras represented Team USA in the tournament. Drysdale represented Team Canada. The Americans won the gold medal game, 2-0, and the shaggy-haired center was named MVP.

Shortly after, the future teammates boarded a small chartered plane full of Kings and Ducks prospects, to transport them from Edmonton to Los Angeles.

It was a four-hour flight. Zegras and Drysdale didn’t say a word. But when they landed, they started to talk a bit, and by the time they met Eakins in front of the Ducks’ practice facility, they were buddies.

“It kind of surprises me that they got so tight in an hourlong car ride,” Eakins said. “But in the identical breath, it does not. You can name them Frick and Frack, Thing 1 and Thing 2. The Odd Couple. They had been all the time hooked up at the hip.”

Their personalities were almost exact opposites. For all of Zegras’ exuberance, Drysdale was just as quiet. Eakins compared the teammates to two kinds of coffee makers.

“You’ve got Drysdale, and there’s so much filter that it’s just literally nothing coming out,” he said. “And then there’s Zegras. And it is simply the grounds pouring down into your cup. There is zero filter.”

Playing with ‘creativity’

Eakins was happy to see Zegras and Drysdale reunited in Philadelphia last year. He was also happy to see Tocchet’s hiring around the same time. The two coaches had gotten to know each other through the NHL, and Eakins found him to be an “open-minded guy.”

It seemed like the perfect fit for Zegras, who didn’t respond well to hard-nosed coaching tactics.

“With Z’s personality, he needs someone, number one, that he knows that they care about him,” Eakins mentioned. “He 100% knows that that person really cares for him.

“There’s going to be some harder days, where you need to explain things. And there’s going to be days where you really want to encourage the improvement he’s had.

“So, you need a coach with that mindset. And I think a coach, for Z, that is just an absolute hard-ass, my way or the highway, it doesn’t work. At least in my opinion. And the way Rick coaches, and I think the way Rick communicates, is he’s always going to be finding another way.”

Zegras reinforced this sentiment. He said that Tocchet — whom he affectionately nicknamed “Taco” — by no means tried to vary him. There was no try to show him right into a third-line checking heart, or a participant who dumps the puck the second he features the pink line.

I simply tried to work with him.

“He’s a tough coach, in terms of what he expects out of you, but he’s very fair,” mentioned Zegras, who was moved again to heart in March. “And from the aspect of trying to play with creativity, and coming to a new team, and a new situation, he definitely let me do my thing a little bit at the beginning of the season.

“He set pretty high standards for me and the whole team. But that freedom and creativity to still play hockey is something that I’ve really enjoyed.”

It has helped Zegras reach new heights on the ice. This season, he recorded career highs in goals (26) and points (67) and led the Flyers in game-winning goals (5), power-play goals (10), and power-play points (23).

Still with a flair for the dramatic, Zegras led the NHL in game-deciding shootout goals (5) and successful shootout attempts (7). But he’s also rekindled his love of the sport.

“He’s just been a pleasure to coach,” Tocchet mentioned in December of the impending restricted free agent. “He’ll do some stuff, make mistakes, but… he’s buying in, and I give him all the credit for the year he’s having. He’s a lot of fun in the room.”

‘Let Z be Z’

Eakins is six hours forward in Germany. He cannot watch NHL video games in actual time. So, each morning, he pulls up the highlights, paying shut consideration to the gamers he is grow to be shut with.

Zegras is a kind of. In Anaheim, the heart would usually be the final one to depart the area, and would poke his head into Eakins’ workplace earlier than he did. They’d speak, over a glass of wine and a Gatorade, about hockey and every little thing else.

It wasn’t all the time simple. Eakins would maintain Zegras accountable however discovered that his pupil was open to suggestions. He would additionally search it out, shifts after video games with the Ducks’ teaching workers.

To Eakins, that is simply one other misperception. Behind the shootout snipes and backhanded finishes had been hours and hours of prep. The heart would work tirelessly on in-game situations, like cutbacks, one-timers, and passes to make on the energy play.

Now, all of that work is coming to fruition, at the proper time, in the proper place, and with the proper coach.

“Tocc has got accountability, but he’s going to let Z be Z,” Eakins mentioned. “And I think that’s really important.”