Trevor Zegras has one special skill that could get Flyers to playoffs

Trevor Zegras will help the Flyers in many ways this coming 2025-26 season, but particularly in one area very few people have mentioned previously.

When the Philadelphia Flyers announced they traded for Anaheim forward Trevor Zegras, many rejoiced, believing they had found one credible answer to their lack of depth down the middle. Zegras played both the wing and center, but a talented forward down the middle was something the Flyers desperately needed. However, looking at some other statistics, there’s one specific talent the new Flyer has which could mean the difference between being the Flyers in the playoffs or on the outside looking in for the sixth year in a row.

A look at the NHL all-time shootout success leaders (minimum 10 attempts) shows an incredibly nifty stat. Heading into this season, Zegras is second all-time when it comes to his success rate in the shootout rounds. Topping the list is Petteri Nummelin, a Finnish fifth-round draft pick of the Blue Jackets back in 2000. Nummelin played a season in Columbus, then didn’t play another NHL game until 2006-07 when he joined the Minnesota Wild. After a second season with Minnesota in 2007-08, he was done. But not before scoring eight times on 10 shootout attempts. That’s 80 per cent success, which will be hard to surpass by anyone playing now or down the road.

Meanwhile Zegras has scored 13 goals in just 21 attempts, good enough for second with a 61.9 per cent success rate. During his last season with Anaheim, Zegras had three attempts, and made two of them count, tying Mason McTavish for the team lead with two (Troy Terry and Leo Carlsson each scored once for the team’s total of six). The biggest difference between Anaheim and the Flyers last year was that the Ducks as a team had just 16 shootout attempts all season. The Flyers had twice that amount (32). Philadelphia scored 11 times for a 34.4 per cent success rate.

A look at the 2024-25 shootout results for individuals across the National Hockey League shows some interesting data. For instance, three of the top 15 skaters who had the most shootout attempts were Flyers: Travis Konecny led the league with nine and scored three times. Matvei Michkov was second in the league with seven, connecting on three. In a 13-way tie for third spot was Owen Tippett with six attempts and scoring three times. Should the Flyers be battling for a third-point in a three-point game after 65 minutes of play, knowing you have Zegras and his very high probability of success as one of your three shooters is certainly an ace up Rick Tocchet’s sleeve. It should also be the rule that Zegras will be among those first two shooters during every shootout this season. Saving him for a possible third or fourth shooter would be ridiculous. Two stops by the opposing goalie and two goals by the opponents leaves Zegras, if shooting in the third slot, irrelevant.

But there’s more.

To go deeper into the Flyers history with the shootout, they have a record of 66 wins and 103 losses. That works out to a 39.05 per cent success rate. And that’s actually increased or improved in recent years as they been able to score in them. Claude Giroux leads the Flyers all-time with 30 goals (in 102 attempts). Second is Jakub Voracek with 15 goals in 48 attempts and third is Sean Couturier with 15 goals (49 attempts). So both Voracek and Couturier have scored more goals but have had 27 and 28 more attempts, respectively, than Zegras. If you were to plop the total Zegras has he would currently sit fourth at 13, one ahead of Danny Briere. If he had 10 attempts this year, and going by his success rate, scored on six of them, he’d be in second place on that list before the 2026-27 season started. Simply put, the kid can score in the shootout!

In terms of percentages all-time for Flyers skaters and the shootout, here’s how they’d rank with Zegras and his numbers plopped in.

So Zegras would have over a 16 per cent better chance of scoring than the next closest Flyer. And a roughly 20 per cent better chance of being successful than Matvei Michkov which is saying a lot. By comparison, two of the six Flyers all-time with the lowest success percentage (minimum seven attempts) in the shootout are, well, as follows: Konecny is ranked second-worst all-time (5 for 27, 18.5 per cent), he who led the Flyers in shootout attempts this year. The sixth-worst Flyer is Sean Couturier (14 for 49, 28.6 per cent) who failed in three attempts this season. The worst Flyer ever? Jeff Carter was 3 for 19 with a 15.8 success rate.

Of course one could argue that the number of times a team is in the shootout shows the team is competitive and hard to beat in regulation. On the other hand skeptics could answer that a team that ends up involved in many shootouts doesn’t have the killer instinct or simply isn’t good enough to beat their opponent in regulation or in the three-on-three overtime session. But what’s clear from this sample size is that the Flyers now have a better chance of earning that second point than they did before Zegras was acquired.

Without going too deep into the team statistics last season the Flyers finished the year with 76 points (33-39-10), winning six time in the shootout and losing three times. Having another sniper or playmaker like Zegras could result in Philadelphia not needing overtime or the shootout to get those two points each night. That’s not to say they’re guaranteed a playoff spot because Trevor Zegras has been great in shootouts. Not at all. But having that weapon at the Flyers’ disposal is potentially huge coming down the stretch, particularly when teams have a habit of tightening up defensively for closer, low-scoring games.

Zegras could end up going into a funk in the shootouts and see that percentage drop below 50 per cent before American Thanksgiving arrives. The fact that not a lot has been made about Zegras and this shootout success rate could be a huge bonus to the Flyers when the time comes. After all, one only has to go back to 2010 and the season finale against the New York Rangers to show what a shootout victory can mean and do for a team.