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The Philadelphia Flyers have signed Trevor Zegras to a four-year contract extension at a $9.15 million average annual value (AAV). The agreement preempts a salary arbitration hearing scheduled for July 22.
Specific aspects of the contract such as a partial, full or lack of a no-trade clause have not yet been published by CapWages or Puckpedia.
From appearances, it seems that agent Pat Brisson and Flyers general manager Daniel Briere (himself a Brisson client during his playing days) met somewhere in the middle of their rumored initial ask and offer. It’s believed that the Flyers offered something around $8.25 million while the Zegras side had something in mind much closer to the Sebastian Aho range ($9.75 million). Overall, this seems to be both a player-friendly and team-friendly contract for both sides.
When no-trade considerations become clearer, it will be easier to tell how much flexibility the Flyers have to move the contract in a few years if that becomes needed or desired. The liberal league-wide use of full no-trade / no-movement clauses in recent years gives players and agents a hammer to wield. It ties general managers’ hands. See Dylan Larkin for a prime example. He requested a trade but he’s made it hard for Detroit to get fair value in return from a team on Larkin’s list.
Players hand-pick their acceptable destination(s) almost as if they are free agents already. This limits trade returns available to the current team that holds the contract.
Team friendly aspects
Following the Flyers’ offer sheet to Leo Carlsson, speculation ran wild about the effects it would have on the Zegras contract. Putting aside some of the more ridiculous theories ($12 million plus AAV was never going to happen), the Flyers did well to keep the Zegras deal well south of the Aho contact with Carolina. Simply, even with a pedestrian 2026 playoffs by his standards, Aho has been a notch above Zegras in terms of consistent high-level production.
However, there was no way the Flyers were going to keep the new Zegras deal below $9 million AAV. At age 25, Zegras is near the prime of his career. The hybrid forward showed enough in 2025-26 (new career-highs with 26 goals and 67 points) to suggest he has not yet reached his peak. In his first career Stanley Cup playoff run, Zegras posted a respectable six points (2g, 4a) in 10 games. Moreover, he showed a much more competitive, even feisty streak, than he’d previously been credited.
Off the ice, Zegras is someone who keeps the locker room atmosphere light. He also has a push-pull dynamic with head coach Rick Tocchet, but it’s the healthy and productive kind. There’s never been a negative carryover when Tocchet challenges the player or Zegras speaks his mind.
Meanwhile, the most team-friendly aspect of the contract is the four-year team. The Flyers have the typical peak years locked up but are not committed ultra long-term. Meanwhile, Zegras needs to take the next step in his production: for example, 30 goals and 75 points are not unreasonable.
Player-friendly aspects
First and foremost, Zegras received a huge raise over his previous contract ($5.75 million to $9.15 million). He’s surpassed Travis Konecny ($8.75 million AAV) as the Flyers’ highest-paid player in average yearly salary. Zegras represents 8.8 percent of the Flyers’ cap for the 2026-27 season. Meanwhile, Konecny (8.4 percent) has led the Flyers in scoring for each of the last five seasons. Even given the salary inflation around the league, Zegras did real well for himself with his new contract.
Additionally, the term is beneficial to the player as well as to the team. Assuming he lives up to the expectations, Zegras stands to cash in a second time come 2030. NHL revenues — and, therefore, salaries — should continue to be in a boom cycle in upcoming years. At age 29, Zegras should still be in his prime barring injuries or a sudden expected slide in his productivity.
Essentially, Zegras has been rewarded handsomely for his progress last season. Meanwhile, he’s able to bet on himself that there’s another big-money contract in his future before he even turns 30 years old. That’s a great scenario for the player himself. Brisson put his client in a favorable scenario to earn a lot more money than he’s already making.
Will Zegras play more center or wing in 2026-27?
Zegras is a hybrid wing/center. In 2025-26, he played more wing than center in the first two-thirds of the season, at least in terms of where he lined up on faceoffs. The Flyers, like quite a few NHL teams, have moved toward a less rigid positional approach in the offensive zone. Coming through the neutral zone and especially when in the defensive zone, things are more structured as to who goes where. Specific to the defensive zone, Tocchet’s centers carry a very heavy resonsibility.
To his credit, by his final season in Anaheim under hard-nosed coach Greg Cronin, Zegras showed considerable improvement defensively. That continued in Philadelphia last season. Zegras is unlikely to contend for a Selke Trophy in his career. However, he’s no longer a defensive liability. That’s an outdated rap on the player.
Zegras, however, is still well below average in the faceoff department. He finished at a paltry 34.1 percent on draws this past season and is just 38.9 percent for his career. For this reason, it’s still likely that he lines up on wing frequently. That’s especially true if he once again plays frequently on a line with fellow hybrid forward Christian Dvorak. While Zegras is more dynamic with the puck, Dvorak is superior on draws.
It should be noted that, in the latter portion of this past season, Zegras took an increased share of faceoffs and longer segments patrolling the middle. That trend toward wider usage at the pivot may continue into 2026-27. That’s especially true with Anaheim having match the Carlsson offer sheet. The Flyers, consequently, are still looking for more of a true bedrock piece at center near the top of the lineup.
Other opportunities for improvement
Apart from continuing to evolve his 200-foot game and getting better on faceoffs, what else can Zegras improve to go to the next level? It will be interesting to see if he was able to add a little more physical strength this off-season.
Zegras is strictly average-sized, which is fine. He is listed at 6-foot-0 but doesn’t have a particularly broad frame. What’s more important is that he’s shown a competitive and even agitating side to his game as a Flyer.
That said, it could only help Zegras — in 50-50 battles, faceoffs, etc. — if he was able to get even slightly stronger physically this summer. It would boost him a bit in matching up against many NHL centers. If not, that’s okay. Zegras embraced the hybrid role, and showed himself to be effective. Nevertheless, it could only help him overall.
What’s next for the Flyers?
The next order of business for the Flyers is to finalize a new contract for defensemen Jamie Drysdale. The 24-year-old, who took a major step in his development during the 2025-26 campaign, is scheduled for an arbitration hearing next Monday (July 20).
Two Flyers organization sources expressed full confidence that neither Drysdale nor Zegras would need their arbitration hearings. One predicted both deals would get done before this weekend. Now there’s one down, one to go.
As with Zegras, look for Drysdale to take a big AAV jump in his salary. He earned $2.3 million under his previous three-year contract, signed with Anaheim in 2023. Given the marketplace and Drysdale’s major improvements, it would not be surprising if the player overtakes Travis Sanheim ($6.25 million) as the team’s highest-paid defenseman.
Anaheim defenseman Pavel Mintyukov recently signed a five-year deal carrying a $7.2 million AAV. While they play different style games, it’s notable that the larger and more physical Mintukov (age 22, drafted 10th overall in 2022) posted 22 regular season points and zero in 12 playoff games. Drysdale, drafted 8th overall in 2020, had 32 regular season points and four more (two goals, two assists) in the playoffs. Both players scored eight regular season goals.
Looking back: The Giroux trade
On the day the Flyers traded Claude Giroux to the Florida Panthers in March 2022, I spoke to Paul Holmgren. On that day, the Flyers Hall of Famer and longtime general manager said that then-GM Chuck Fletcher made a very underrated deal under the circumstances.
Giroux, an impending unrestricted free agent at the time, was only willing to waive his no-trade clause for one team: the Florida Panthers. Consequently, the Flyers were unable to pursue offers from other teams (most notably, the Colorado Avalanche). As such, there was no bidding war. Florida general manager Bill Zito was willing to fine-tune his offer but not to upgrade it significantly.
Nevertheless, the Flyers did well for themselves in hindsight: wing prospect Owen Tippett, a conditional first-round pick (ultimately a 2024 pick) and a 2023 third-round pick. Viewed in terms of how much trouble teams since then have had finding good return value on waived no-trade contracts with very limited trade partners, the Flyers received a nice return on Giroux.
Speaking of Giroux, a source close to the player said his recent signing decision came down to staying with the Senators or returning to Philly. Both options came down first and foremost to family-related considerations. Ultimately, of course, Giroux chose to remain in Ottawa.
Flyers Alumni Fantasy Camp Countdown
We are just under one month away from the 12th annual edition of Flyers Alumni Fantasy Camp at the Class of 1923 Arena on the University of Pennsylvania campus. The camp has now filled all registration slots. It has sold out each and every year.
This year’s Alumni coaches: Hockey Hall of Famers Mark Recchi and Mark Howe, fellow Flyers Hall of Famers Joe Watson and Tim Kerr, current Flyers president of hockey operations Keith Jones, former NHL All-Star Patrick Sharp, goalie alum Robert Esche and (knee injury recovery dependent) Flyers Alumni president Brad Marsh.
Camp runs from August 14 to 17, 2026.
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