Trevor Zegras signed a four-year contract with the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday night, and the term alone says plenty.
Elliotte Friedman reported the deal carries a $9.125 million average annual value, a massive jump from the $5,750,000 cap hit Zegras carried this past season.
The number matches the player. Zegras put up 26 goals and 41 assists for 67 points across 81 games in his first full year in Philadelphia.
He wasn't just filling a scoresheet either. The 25-year-old finished with 10 power play goals and 13 power play assists, numbers that put him squarely in the Flyers' top six.
And the production didn't stop when the games got tighter. The winger posted six points, two goals and four assists, over 10 playoff games with a plus-1 rating.
The Flyers' own account posted a clip of Zegras still catching his breath after a multi-goal night, mic in his face, calling it "Mood."
He's shown mid-interview, hair damp, grinning through a question before the camera cuts to his line: two goals, three shots, 22 minutes and 51 seconds of ice time.
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This wasn't cheap insurance. Philadelphia's front office, led by general manager Daniel Briere, just locked in a building block for the middle of the lineup for four more years.
Rick Tocchet's group finished the regular season 43-27-12 for 98 points, good enough to close on a three-game winning streak heading into the postseason.
They beat Pittsburgh in the first round before running into Carolina, dropping four straight to the Hurricanes to close out that series.
Is $9.125 million the going rate for a 25-year-old with one big season in a new city? That's the bet Philadelphia just made.
It's a number that puts him ahead of Travis Konecny on the cap sheet, and joins Sean Couturier as the third Flyers forward making at least $7 million a year.
Bridge deals are supposed to buy patience. This one buys term instead, and that's the riskier play.
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Whether Zegras grows into that number or gets outproduced by it is the only question that matters now, and Philadelphia won't know the answer for years.
Is $9.125 million a year the right price for Trevor Zegras?
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