When the Philadelphia Flyers acquired Trevor Zegras from the Anaheim Ducks in June of 2025, they weren’t sure what version of Zegras would arrive. After tumultuous contract negotiations with Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek, the cover co-star of EA Sports’ NHL 2023 was badly in need of a change of scenery. In his first season in Flyers orange, Zegras has found his game, scoring at a near point-per-game pace, and rekindled his love for hockey. Soon, he’ll need a new deal with the orange and black as he heads into restricted free agency this summer.
His current contract status
At the time of the trade, Zegras was entering the final year of his deal signed in Anaheim for 3 years and $5.75 million per year. He is considered a restricted free agent this season and every year until 2028, so general manager Danny Briere and the Flyers can negotiate at their leisure. The player is ineligible to sign elsewhere, or speak to other teams, unless he is still not extended by July 1, 2026.
This is information the Flyers — and Zegras, conversely — can leverage for a better deal on their end. Restricted free agents typically sign for fewer dollars than they would be worth on the open market, considering they aren’t eligible for other teams to bid. However, the years of 2028 and beyond would cost the Flyers much more — his “unrestricted” years. A deal that expires in 2028 would be exceptionally cheaper, but would lean heavily in Zegras’s favor, as he would get the earliest look possible at true market value and reach unrestricted free agency at a very young age.
With unrestricted free agency slowly coming up on the horizon, Zegras should get a substantial raise and security that he hasn’t had to this point in his career. He’s made one thing clear: he wants to play in Philadelphia. Pat Brisson, Zegras’s agent, is familiar with the club, with Cam York, Nick Seeler, and three Lehigh Valley Phantoms currently under his umbrella. Brisson also represented Claude Giroux when Philadelphia gave him an eight-year, $66.2 million deal, about 12 percent of the salary cap, after his age 25 season was over the point per game rate.
What is Zegras really worth?
The Flyers took a chance on high-end skill and left the rest of the equation to coach Rick Tocchet. Once a dynamic center, Zegras has found the bulk of his ice time on the wing with Christian Dvorak. From a salary perspective, centers are simply worth more money for the extra responsibilities they carry. Tocchet is more comfortable playing Zegras on the wing, at least for now, which would likely give the Flyers a bit of a discount.
You might be thinking, “the highest paid player in the NHL is a winger”, but Kirill Kaprizov has a much different set of circumstances than Trevor Zegras — he nearly doubled Zegras’s scoring in 16 fewer games played last season. The Flyers could use a superstar of any ilk, but they won’t need to be paying anyone $17 million per year yet.
By raw production, a better player comparable we could use would be Winnipeg Jets winger Gabriel Vilardi. At age 25, Vilardi played 71 games and compiled 27 goals and 61 points. Prorated to 82 games, it’s a similar scoring pace to what Zegras is currently on, though a bit lower. Winnipeg gave Vilardi a 6 year, $45-million deal this past summer ($7.5 million AAV), or about eight percent of the salary cap, which included buying four years of unrestricted free agency.
The wrench in this particular comparable comes when you see that Zegras had cleared 60 points twice before Vilardi ever sniffed 40. There’s a bigger sample size of success with the Flyers’ hybrid center, and perhaps more to be unlocked. Funnily enough, both players are sitting at exactly 47 games, 44 points, and 19 goals this season, but I would expect Zegras to clear Vilardi’s AAV fairly easily. The salary cap has been approved for a big rise. A contract worth eight percent of next year’s cap would pay Zegras roughly $8.3 million, which should be the base level to start negotiating.
Waiting might have been costly
What makes the Zegras discourse so interesting is the major turnaround he’s had since leaving Anaheim. He’s going to outscore his previous two injury-marred seasons with the Ducks in this one alone. Was it really just injury related, with a side of seasonal depression? His age 20 and 21 seasons suggest it is — 61 and 65 points in those two years, respectively, and just eight games missed on the whole. Half of those games were spent in the league’s COVID protocol, and not a physical breakdown. Still, you’d like to see proof that Zegras can finish a season, or at least play 60 games for the first time since his age 21 season. This becomes even more important with the schedule increasing to 84 games next season, per the new agreement.
Briere could have signed Zegras as soon as he acquired him. The recent sample size would’ve been disappointing. Now, he’s given you over half a season as your best scorer and stayed healthy in doing so. Maybe he isn’t the top of the lineup center they were hoping for, but there’s still time for that yet — Mitch Marner has just started playing center for the Golden Knights. Having not been able to crack 36 percent in the face-off dot this year, they’ve got some work to do. Either way, he’s an impactful scorer and has emerged as a true locker room presence. They aren’t letting him out the door.
The longer they wait to start negotiating with Zegras though, the more money it seems to be costing them long term. If he can give them a full, healthy season at the 70 to 80 point mark, we’re looking at one of the richest contracts in Flyers history. Travis Konecny’s $70 million deal is the top mark; Zegras will be threatening that number if his reemergence continues.
Danny Briere’s history of contract extensions
This is the final summer that teams are allowed to extend players for eight years, as the new collective bargaining agreement reduces that number to seven when it kicks in this September. The Flyers should try to squeeze the eighth year out of Zegras for the most potential savings against the cap. Such a deal would expire in 2034, should the world still be turning, and would fit an interesting pattern in Danny Briere’s history of contract extensions.
Examining the long-term deals handed out by Briere, the contracts don’t expire the same offseason — a deliberate choice to avoid having two forwards reach unrestricted free agency in the same summer. Signed by prior administrator Chuck Fletcher, Sean Couturier’s deal expires in 2030, with each following year releasing a forward extended by the current general manager: Dvorak (2031), Owen Tippett (2032), and Konecny (2033). A maximum length extension for Zegras would come in nicely at 2034, and would expire in his age 32 season — his entire prime, and early enough into his 30’s where he can get himself another decent payday.
Worth mentioning among all of the math and long-term outlook: this would run into the inevitable Matvei Michkov discussion, should they choose to give their prized homegrown talent the soon-to-be maximum of seven years, leaving both to be unrestricted the same summer. As much as we love Michkov, Zegras has proven to be more of a sure thing, and I would imagine would take priority at this time. That’s a good problem to have in the very distant future and shouldn’t hold anyone up from doing the business that matters.
With the information we have publicly, I would guess a contract expiring with Dvorak’s would be a likely alternative to the maximum length. It’s less of a gamble on Zegras’s health and productivity while not conflicting with some of the other core forwards on the roster, and he would still be under 30 years old at their next crossroads. Dvorak is unlikely to receive another extension, at least not a costly one, and leaves Zegras and Travis Sanheim as the major deals of that summer to this point.
The extension will be signed, it’s only a matter of when, and as the saying goes, yesterday’s price is not today’s price.
