If there was any doubt before, the Calgary Flames’ loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday night (Jan. 7) all but guaranteed they would be sellers this season. Despite entering the game on a three-game winning streak, they laid an egg against what is undoubtedly the worst roster in the NHL at the moment. It is a good reminder that at the end of the day, they are a middle-of-the-road team at best.
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Though the Flames don’t seem to be willing to enter a full-fledged rebuild, they have already begun the process of retooling their roster. A great example of that came this past offseason when they chose to trade Tyler Toffoli to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for a much younger Yegor Sharangovich. They are expected to target younger but NHL-ready players if they do indeed sell, and as fate would have it, a very good one just became available.
Zegras On the Market
Just one day after dealing Jamie Drysdale, the Anaheim Ducks have reportedly put Trevor Zegras on the trading block. This report comes from Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, who said that he has heard the 22-year-old is indeed available if the right offer comes along.
“I have my eyes on Trevor Zegras,” Seravalli said. “In speaking with teams around the league, they suggest that Zegras’ name has been out there and in play. While that may be a bit of a surprise for a guy who was a cover athlete on NHL 23 and has scored some incredible highlight reel goals, I think the truth is that I don’t know that many people believe that Trevor Zegras meshes with the ultimate view of how Pat Verbeek wants to see the Anaheim Ducks play.”
This seems to jive with offseason reports of friction between Zegras and the Ducks’ front office. The fact that he remained unsigned early into training camp helps prove that even further, so seeing him become available isn’t all too surprising. That said, young players with his skill level don’t come around every day, and there will be a ton of interest.
Flames Should Inquire
One team that should strongly consider pursuing Zegras is the Flames. He is young, highly skilled, and would be a perfect fit for the Flames’ retooling stage. While his four goals and seven points in 19 games this season aren’t very impressive, they should begin improving in the very near future.
Just one season ago, Zegras tied his career-high with 23 goals while putting up a career-best 65 points in 81 games. Those numbers are impressive as is, but are even better when considering the fact that the Ducks were a very bad team last season. In fact, both Zegras’ totals led the team, showing just how big of an impact he had.
On a better team, there is reason to believe Zegras would have been a point-per-game player in each of his past two seasons. Those players don’t grow on trees in the NHL, especially ones as young as he is.
With the Flames in the early stages of a retool, they likely wouldn’t want to part with their exciting youth pieces. Players such as Connor Zary, Matt Coronato, Jakob Pelletier, and Dustin Wolf have fans hopeful for what lies ahead. Moving any of them, even for a player as established as Zegras, would be a risky move for general manager Craig Conroy. Luckily, he has another piece that could be more intriguing to the Ducks, that being Elias Lindholm.
Lindholm is expected to be dealt by the Flames between now and the trade deadline, as he is set to become an unrestricted free agent at season’s end. He has been quite hesitant when it comes to signing an extension in Calgary, likely due to the direction of the team being somewhat of a question mark in recent years.
With the Ducks, there is a clear direction in which they are going. They already had several great young forwards in their system, and were able to add another great one from the Flyers on Monday in Cutter Gauthier. They could use some veteran leadership with their young core, and Lindholm would help provide just that.
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In order for this trade to make sense, the Ducks would need Lindholm to agree to an extension before being dealt, though that may not be much of an issue. On top of the thrill of joining a team on the up and up, he would also get to move his family to a much warmer Anaheim climate. It isn’t exactly a hidden secret that NHL players enjoy living and playing in all three California cities, and being able to swap out the winter gear for some flip-flops and shorts would be hard to pass up.
Acquiring Zegras Would Improve Fan Morale
Due to how things have unfolded for the Flames over the past year and a half, their support from fans has been dwindling. They are failing to sell out their building, and the tickets that have been sold have been going for much lower prices than normal. They need something to get them excited enough to get back behind their team, and a move for Zegras would do just that.
