Speculation: The Athletic-“So, it’s easy to imagine a scenario in which the Ducks move on from Zegras..."

[Zegs2sendhelp]

I think of Nylander and his 7G 20A assists in 54 games after his long negotiation.

Yep, the first chunk of games zegras was def playing with an injury, he mentioned it in an interview that he’s never really had injuries before and that he didn’t realize how much it was affecting his game. Even during that time you could see that he was putting effort and focus into cleaning up his play on the dzone, and becoming more sound defensively.

When he returned his production returned to his normal #’s.

People love to point out the 1 game he got sat for a couple bad give away on the powerplay…. But what they ignore is how he reacted to it, ducks ended up winning the game in overtime, and guess who was the happiest player in the arena, he was…. Guess who was the first player on the ice to celebrate, he was…. Guess who was the last player off the ice after congratulating all his teammate, he was. In the post game interview he took ownership of his mistakes, and how costly those types of plays can be for the team and momentum and that he would do better. Def the type of reaction I want from a young player.

it was a learning situation for zegras, and a good one at that. He has all the hockey talent you could ever want, and sometimes he just needs to learn to simplify it at times he’s a young player with sky high potential, but you have to find that balance of his talent and what makes him good vs just making the simple safe/smart play.

 

[HuGo Sham]

I think the big issue is we don’t really have room for Hutson.

Zellweger is a very similar player to hutson…. Tho I think zellweger has more hockey skill, and hutson has more of an “it” factor too (kinda like a Brandt Clarke but smaller).

Mintyukov looks like our #1 lhd, still have fowler/lacombe/Vaaks/hinds that are in the nhl or nhl ready blocking zellweger who looked good in his limited games.

I think
Zegras
For
Top 10 pick + barron is prob a decent starting base for a zegras move to Montreal not involving caufield/slaf/Reinbacher for obvious reasons

starting base?

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

starting base?

Open for debate, adds frol either side, cap dumps etc

 

[HuGo Sham]

Open for debate, addsfrom either side, cap dumps etc

there are elite players available in this year's top 10. Adding Barron is more than enough imo. Otherwise I think habs will draft best available forward and find another trading partner for a second forward. Otherwise they'll just give newhook or Roy a chance next to Dach

 

[WhatTheDuck]

there are elite players available in this year's top 10. Adding Barron is more than enough imo. Otherwise I think habs will draft best available forward and find another trading partner for a second forward. Otherwise they'll just give newhook or Roy a chance next to Dach

*potential elite players

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

there are elite players available in this year's top 10. Adding Barron is more than enough imo. Otherwise I think habs will draft best available forward and find another trading partner for a second forward. Otherwise they'll just give newhook or Roy a chance next to Dach

That’s fine, and it might be but I generally leave it open for debate/conversations. All those top 10 guys with potential are still gambles… and they could be a elite players or they could be busts you won’t know for likely 3-5 years

There’s potentially other teams asking, which means a bidding war

If dach can get 13th + 3rd round…. No reason to get anything less than top 10 pick + solid prospect, and I think more Is def debatable. Dach was flirting with bust territory at the time of the trade…. Zegras issue is he might not live up to his hype

 

[Gliff]

there are elite players available in this year's top 10. Adding Barron is more than enough imo. Otherwise I think habs will draft best available forward and find another trading partner for a second forward. Otherwise they'll just give newhook or Roy a chance next to Dach

This top 10 is probably one of the 2-3 worst in the last 10 years.

I'm sorry but any pick other then #1 with Barron is not even good on value, not to mention team need.

 

[HuGo Sham]

This top 10 is probably one of the 2-3 worst in the last 10 years.

I'm sorry but any pick other then #1 with Barron is not even good on value, not to mention team need.

*potentially one of the 2-3 worst in the last 10 years

 

[Gliff]

*potentially one of the 2-3 worst in the last 10 years

You're making my point for me. Zegras is a 22 year old with a 61 and 65 point season on the worst team in the league during that time. His potential is sky high and even if he stays who he is right now he is a borderline top line player.

What is the upside to trade him where the best piece coming back is a guy we hope ends up like Zegras?

 

[dirtydanglez]

You're making my point for me. Zegras is a 22 year old with a 61 and 65 point season on the worst team in the league during that time. His potential is sky high and even if he stays who he is right now he is a borderline top line player.

What is the upside to trade him where the best piece coming back is a guy we hope ends up like Zegras?

but also coming off an injury. his 7 points/29 point pace is also concerning

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

but also coming off an injury. his 7 points/29 point pace is also concerning

i don’t think that’s a very big concern for inquiring teams. And if it is, then he’s not moving anytime soon.

If teams asked bout zegras because they think they can get a deal based on his production/injury, then people aren’t really asking about him

 

[Goalfield13]

Based on?

It’s very possible zegras wanted less years, zegras is 100% the type of player that would bet on himself to turn that 7.5-8 year deal into 10+.

Personally I’m a fan of not over paying for production. Based on caufields play up until his contract signing, you could comfortably say Montreal overpaid him. They paid on potential that’ll he’ll be a lot more, but it’s def a gamble .

Just like it’s a gamble doing a 3 year deal with zegras(if he hits his potential , we may be paying a lot more than 8) but if he hits his potential no one is going to be upset with having to pay him. Caufield there’s a risk people are upset at that contract(granted it’s looking like at the very least it’s a fair contract)

Based on rumours and conjecture, admittedly.

 

[FiveTacos]

but also coming off an injury. his 7 points/29 point pace is also concerning

Drysdale missed 100 games and still returned a top prospect.

This is a unique situation in that we have some direct comparisons. Drysdale and Zegras were both top 10 picks a year apart, both finished their ELC last year. Zegras has been more productive and thus scored twice as much money on his deal. It's reasonable to conclude that Zegras > Drysdale, and a slow 12 game start isn't likely to change that.

Drysdale was traded for a recent top 5 pick. Yet somehow Zegras is only worthy of protected picks, 2nd tier prospects, or late 1sts? Sorry, doesn't add up.

And yeah, no one in on Zegras would be trading for him as if he's a 28 point player. That's just stupid. I've offered to bet people on his healthy production multiple times and gotten no takers, not even from his biggest critics.

 

[Gliff]

but also coming off an injury. his 7 points/29 point pace is also concerning

Broken bokes are by far the least concerning injury you can get as a professional. They are basically 100% predictable recovery.

He started slow after missing camp and was snakebitten. No Ducks fan were clamoring for him to be traded. That should tell you something. The Z-Carlsson-Terry line was absolutely dominant at times with no points to show for it.

Anyways, the Ducks know hat they have and they aren't selling low, shit they aren't even selling at all lol.

 

[Unspecified]

I though Anaheim was HUGE on this kid and what has soured them to the thought of even moving him? I don't follow the Ducks so im out of the loop here.

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

Based on rumours and conjecture, admittedly.

Fair, I don’t know either. What I do know is there isn’t enough factual evidence to paint pictures 1 way or the other. On same token I don’t think contract negotiations shouldnt be cake walks unless your dealing with a Mcdavid level player…. And drysdale and zegras were PVs first significant RFA deals, and I do think he needed to set a line, or you get walked over like dubas in Toronto

The facts I do know is he’s well liked in locker room and around the arena, Cronin speaks highly on him…. Does he have areas and room to improve of course as do all 22 year olds .

 

[FiveTacos]

I though Anaheim was HUGE on this kid and what has soured them to the thought of even moving him? I don't follow the Ducks so im out of the loop here.

I don't think they're looking to move him, and even the rumors suggest he's being asked about but not shopped.

 

[Rec T]

I though Anaheim was HUGE on this kid and what has soured them to the thought of even moving him? I don't follow the Ducks so im out of the loop here.

Well, there's closing in on 900 posts here.

50% of them are Ducks fans saying that there is zero evidence/indication from the team or anyone with insider knowledge saying that they don't want him any longer. No souring on him whatsoever. But for the sake of internet discussion, here's what they would probably be looking for 'if' (and again, NO indication of such) the team wanted to move on.

40% are people trying to buy him for two cents on the dollar and getting huffy when those offers aren't gratefully accepted.

And 10% wondering why this thread is still open.

 

[HanSolo]

I though Anaheim was HUGE on this kid and what has soured them to the thought of even moving him? I don't follow the Ducks so im out of the loop here.

At least you're honest about it.

 

[Chose]

Because Look at what Hughes has done with the roster he inherited

He has added
Kirby Dach (3 OA 2019)
Alex Newhook (16 OA 2019)
Michael Matheson (23 OA 2012)
Justin Barron (25 OA 2020)
Emil heineman (43 OA 2020)
2022 1st round pick Calgary drafted Mesar
2025 1st round pick Calgary
2024 1st round pick Winnipeg
2022 2nd rd pick Edm - drafted lane Hutson
2024 2nd round pick Colorado
2025 2nd round pick Pittsburgh
2024 3rd round pick Minnesota
2022 4th rd pick NYR drafted Guindon
2023 4th rd pick Pitt drafted Konyushkov
2024 5th rd pick SJ
2024 7th rd pick Washington

This is what he traded away to get the above (anything else traded away was stuff he acquired along the way)

Toffoli
Chiarot
Kulak
Romanov
Lehkonen
petry
Poheling
Edmundson
Hoffman
Fairbrother
Pitlick
2022 3rd rd pick
2022 4th rd pick
2023- 2nd rd pick

Grier has done nothing close to that

Why would you say he is doing awesome?

Isn't that in a big holding pattern since a lot of it depends on how draft picks turn out?

The fact that you say he's doing well so definitively is interesting in that its probably default for many others.

Because of what CDN24 outlines.
Because he got 2 first out of Monahan, a move that could have been done by the Sharks too.
Because he got Matheson for Petry.
Because he hired MSL when no one would have.
Because he was right on Slaf.
Because he rebuilds in a way that will be copied for the next decade, targetting an age group and trading for those players to accelerate the rebuild and avoid being in constant rebuilt (Dach instead of Nazar. Newhook instead of Gauthier).

Want more ?

Now I am genuinely interested in learning why you think it is an aberration that he was not mentionned in the worst GM list, only explainable because he would leak information to that "insider". That's some serious reaching, only to try and discredit an insider with even less basis than thinking that the insider might be more in the know than you are about reasons why Zegras' name come up by multiple sources as being available.

Instead of asking me why I think he shouldn't have and avoid the question, please explain why you think this is the only explanation he wasn't listed, and why you think it was an evidence he should have been.

 

[lwvs84]

but also coming off an injury. his 7 points/29 point pace is also concerning

Players get hurt and have down years. Caufield barely played more than half the season last year, I'm assuming it was an injury. I'm guessing Montreal fans weren't concerned about him long term. If you're going off the small sample size, then Zegras's defense was vastly improved. The problem is, most fans that are downplaying Zegras are taking this year's offense with last year's defense... if you're picking the games he's played this year, then also consider how he's not a liability on defense anymore. And the majority of that point pace is hurt by a 12 game stretch where Terry looked like pre-breakout level, Ducks players tend to have a hard time adjusting to the birth of their first child. He also played with Carlsson who was still adjusting to the NHL. When he came back from the first injury, he was producing like normal. The second injury shouldn't hurt him long term since it was a broken bone and not tendon/ligament/muscle damage.

 

[FiveTacos]

He also played with Carlsson who was still adjusting to the NHL.

Bigger issue during that stretch was Carlsson being in and out of the lineup, and thus Zegras was switching roles/position from game to game.

 

[lwvs84]

Bigger issue during that stretch was Carlsson being in and out of the lineup, and thus Zegras was switching roles/position from game to game.

That's true, between that and all the injuries no one has really had a chance to build chemistry.

 

[Doublechin]

I get the POV Ducks fans, but we aren't blind, there's one précédent in récent years for an extremely talented Young forward that was openly stopped when his coach and GM clearly were like, yea, this kid isn't gonna cut it

That was Drouin, mind you, he had just finished à playoff series by being close to ppg but the writing was on the wall and the Habs management team were suckers to trade for him.

Zegras even as a 60 point player gives young Drouin vibes, I have a very hard time seeing him becoming an established top player, he'll be a first liner and a tank commander, that's why if I'm a GM of a team hoping to win, he isn't someone I'm targeting at all.

But I get yall pOVs Ducks fans, it really sucks to see the decline and you still dream of a good return, you never know, there's always a bad GM that bites, I'm hoping that's not Hughes

 

[Shane Diesel]

Outside of an absolute overpayment, the Ducks would be crazy to trade a 22 year old Zegras.