The Ducks traded forward Trevor Zegras to the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday in exchange for center Ryan Poehling, the 45th overall pick in the upcoming draft and a fourth-round selection next year, as confirmed by both teams.

Zegras, 24, was once a central piece of the Ducks’ rebuild. They drafted him ninth overall in 2019 and the second of his consecutive 60-point seasons had him lead the club in scoring for 2022-23.

Yet now, after two seasons disrupted heavily by injuries, Zegras is being traded for a bottom-six pivot and some mid-tier draft picks. The Ducks also got $3.85 million in salary-cap flexibility for the upcoming campaign, which signifies a contract year for both Zegras and Poehling, albeit while already possessing considerable cap space.

Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek said that “ultimately, (the trade) came down to wanting to re-tool this club for this season,” and twice thanked Zegras for his six seasons of service.

“It was a difficult trade to make from that perspective, but as we gather with our group, the big thing is that we’re trying to re-tool the roster in a way that all the pieces fit cohesively,” Verbeek said.

From Philadelphia’s perspective, it was a buy-low opportunity that allowed them to turn a player they signed for a modest price in free agency and a surplus of picks into a player who was recently considered a budding star. The Flyers have three selections in the first round of this week’s draft, and they retained them all.

Zegras played just 88 of a possible 164 games in the past two campaigns, missing significant time with injuries to his knee, ankle and groin. Last season, he posted 32 points in 57 games, highlighted by a late-season surge with 10 points in as many games.

“That’s why he was available in the first place. Top-six talents are very rarely available around the NHL. We felt that was a risk worth taking for us,” Flyers GM Daniel Briere said. “We feel good about it because of what he’s shown in the past and we hope that he can find that magic again and take it to another level.”

Though he was drafted as a center and made plays brilliantly from the middle, faceoffs and defensive coverage were deficient from Zegras, all while the Ducks drafted Mason McTavish (2021, third overall) and Leo Carlsson (2023, second overall). That relegated Zegras to the wing for much of last season.

“Trevor has been wanting to play center, and I think he’ll be given that opportunity in Philadelphia. He’s more creative in the middle of the ice than having to play from the wing,” Verbeek said. “We’re fortunate that there’s Leo and there’s Mason. We find that they’re two pretty good centermen.”

“It’s not a secret, we’re thin in the middle,” Briere said.

Just two years ago, this move would have seemed unfathomable as Zegras graced the cover of EA’s NHL 24 video game and seemed to be the sort of social media-ready star that the NHL and the Ducks alike would market for years to come.

“Ultimately, (owner) Henry (Samueli) wants to win, and I have to make moves that I feel will improve this team, the chemistry of this team and the makeup, so he was fine with it,” said Verbeek, who is trying to end the team’s seven-year playoff drought.

Even prior to his injury issues, Zegras, who was drafted by former GM Bob Murray, seemed to be less of a cornerstone in the eyes of current management. Verbeek negotiated a three-year bridge deal with both Zegras and his close friend Jamie Drysdale as both held out well into training camp of a 2023-24 campaign in which both sustained multiple injuries.

“The bridge deal, obviously, allowed us to catch a little longer look at that player, so that’s why we ended up doing a three-year deal,” Verbeek said.

Still, for a 22-year-old coming off back-to-back 60-plus-point campaigns and leading a team with cap space to spare in scoring, a longer deal is usually merited.

“That’s fair, but that’s what we do, we analyze players on a daily basis and on a yearly basis, so that’s the approach I took with it,” Verbeek said.

Verbeek also acknowledged the financial realities of the deal. Zegras will be a restricted free agent next summer, when the Ducks also will need to re-sign Carlsson, promising forward Cutter Gauthier and talented young defensemen Jackson LaCombe, Pavel Mintyukov and Olen Zellweger.

Drysdale, the Ducks’ lottery pick in 2020, was traded within four months of signing his deal and now Zegras will join him, quite literally.

Zegras and Drysdale will be reunited in the City of Brotherly Love. Drysdale was traded to Philly along with a second-rounder in exchange for Gauthier in January of last year. Zegras also played with Philly defenseman Cam York, an Anaheim native, in the U.S. National Team Development Program

Joining the Ducks is Poehling, 26, who was drafted 25th overall by Montreal in 2017 and scored a hat trick, the only one of his career, in his NHL debut with the Canadiens. After a stop in Pittsburgh, he joined the Flyers and set career highs in goals, assists and points in back-to-back seasons, finishing 2024-25 with 12 goals, 19 assists and 31 points.

Verbeek emphasized the speed, size and maturity that Poehling and his other recent trade pickup, former New York Rangers winger Chris Kreider, brought to first-year coach Joel Quenneville’s mix.

“They’re gonna be great fits for our team and how Joel wants to play. He wants to play fast and they have that ability to play fast and forecheck,” said Verbeek, who believes Poehling will become a key contributor for the Ducks’ struggling special teams.

On deck for the Ducks is the draft (June 27 and 28), where Verbeek said that the No. 10 overall pick could be in play if the right trade were to present itself.