How Zegras trade could shape Flyers’ draft plans

The Philadelphia Flyers are heading into a team-shaping 2025 NHL Draft. Could acquiring Trevor Zegras earlier change their plans?

Before this week, it seemed as if the Philadelphia Flyers were going to have one mission entering the 2025 NHL Entry Draft: stockpile center after center. 

With seven picks in the first two rounds at the time, there was no doubt that at least four of those selections were going to be used on players who have at least a chance at developing into an NHL center. But the hockey world is always moving, and GM Daniel Briere felt as if there was an opportunity to acquire a depressed asset, (in this case, that may have been literal) and pounced. 

The skilled Trevor Zegras comes to town after a down couple of seasons with the Ducks, with Ryan Poehling, a second-round pick (No. 45) in the 2025 NHL Draft, and a fourth-round selection in the 2026 NHL Draft going the other way. This move signals the Flyers’ understanding that stockpiling potential high-end talent is the way to take a step forward, but in bringing in a 24-year old with some development time still to go, there could be an aftershock that alters the way the front office and scouting department approach their draft strategy. 

Firstly, there is the matter of one less second round pick, with No. 45 now belonging to the Ducks, the Flyers are left with just a measly six picks in the first two rounds, three in the first, and three in the second. 

That’s a lot of pretty premium selections, and as a team that basically needs whatever stars they can get, they can definitely afford to spread the wealth and feel pressured into focusing on one specific position. But that being said, with the most expensive and highly sought after position (besides goalie, which is another story) being the number one center spot, the Flyers front office was probably leaning towards drafting a potential 1C with their first pick at number six. 

With the acquisition of Zegras giving them another younger project to look at up the middle, they may feel as if there is less pressure to immediately try and draft the first-line center of the future at the six spot. Perhaps, this move opens up the potential of drafting a name like Porter Martone; a big, skilled winger who has slid slightly on draft boards largely due to the fact that he doesn’t play center. Martone would fit seamlessly beside any of the Flyers’ young centers as a big man that loves the front of the net and can keep up with a high pace of play.

Maybe Briere and Co. take a stance that hinges more on finding dominant, powerful wingers that supplement the smaller centers they currently have, with Zegras joining Jett Luchanko in having builds that more closely resemble that of the author of this article rather than, say, Aleksander Barkov. Names like Nickals Backstrom and Nick Suzuki come to mind as two peak scenarios for each of those players, and size on a line is ultimately still size, not every center needs to be a hulking beast as long as some bang and crash is still present. While the need is still obviously present, there’s a chance the Flyers may just lean towards the best player available. 

Not taking a center with the opening first round pick would have ripple effects across the rest of the Flyers’ first round, and would drastically increase the likelihood of the Briere and Co. looking towards more established center-ice names like Braeden Cootes, William Horcoff, and Cole Reschny with pick No. 22. 

James Hagens has been a hot topic leading up to draft day, and it’s easy to see why. The shifty and dynamic forward out of Boston College was viewed as one of the most hyped-up prospects in hockey before last season began, but after a less-than-stellar season in the NCAA, has slipped from #1, to #3, to now being a real option for the Flyers at No. 6. 

Acquiring Zegras shouldn’t really have any effect on whether or not the Flyers take Hagens, but it is fair to make the observation that if they do, they would be adding two American LW/C-type players who both have fantastic puck skills and more slender frames. That’s not a bad thing! They both have very elite qualities, and may both be fantastic NHLers in their own right. Zegras, to his credit, already has been that, at least in stretches. Doubling up your bets on high-end talent is never a bad thing, and it would give the Flyers prospect pool a shot of potential excellence that it has lacked recently. 

But this is the NHL, and size and snarl have become increasingly key buzzwords, especially in the aftermath of the Florida Panthers slithering their way to another Stanley Cup. There will no doubt be some apprehension among some members of the Flyers’ brass about, if Hagens is to slide, whether or not they are building a team that is simply too small. With Konecny, Brink, and Michkov all roster locks, the Flyers would already have three forwards who are 5-foot-10 or shorter right off the bat. Add in the 5-foot-9 Jakob Pelletier, who will likely make the opening night roster at the very least, and that makes it four of 12 who would conventionally be considered “small” by NHL standards. 

Hagens is just about 5-foot-11 in his own right, add that to Zegras having a pretty average build at 6-foot flat and 185 pounds, and the simple fact is that a professional hockey team is probably going to take size into effect somewhere down the line. Prospects like Denver Barkey, Oliver Bonk, and the aforementioned Luchanko aren’t very big either, and even if you disregard the size argument entirely, there is merit to having different archetypes of player littered throughout the system, that fact alone was basically the sole rationale behind the Jack Berglund selection in last year’s second round. 

That being said, even when looking at the big bad Panthers roster that just recently conquered the NHL, the biggest names on their forward corps, outside of the all important Barkov, are depth names like Tomas Nosek, A.J. Greer, and Jonah Gadjovich. While some of their most important players, those who gave them their trademark edge like Brad Marchand, Evan Rodrigues, and Sam Bennett, are among some of the smaller players on the roster. They just play big, where their roster was really huge was on the back end, which isn’t exactly a new phenomenon. And so, perhaps the real takeaway that teams should learn from Florida is more based in mentality or structure, rather than their raw physical attributes. Chances are, it’s a bit of both.  

So with Zegras now in the fold, perhaps names like Martone, the polarizing spark plug Brady Martin, or Jake O’Brien, who has a bit more stature despite being young for his draft year, become more appealing by default. It remains to be seen if the Flyers truly decide to flip the script entirely come June 27, but they’ve definitely shook things up, and made their first-round selections a whole lot more interesting.