With Jamie Drysdale gone, is Trevor Zegras next out the door for the Anaheim Ducks?
The Ducks traded Drysdale to Philadelphia for Cutter Gauthier and a second-round pick, and reporting says GM Pat Verbeek has floated his close friend Zegras in trade talks this season.
The Philadelphia Flyers acquired defenseman Jamie Drysdale from the Anaheim Ducks on Monday, January 8, 2024, sending forward Cutter Gauthier and a second-round pick back to Anaheim, according to Yardbarker's reporting, which cited Frank Seravalli. The trade immediately raised the question of whether Drysdale's close friend and fellow young Ducks core piece, center Trevor Zegras, could be next to leave.
Yardbarker reported that Drysdale and Zegras were close friends who had recently rehabilitated together from twin lower-body injuries, making the trade a break-up of that on- and off-ice pairing. While the outlet said no Zegras trade appeared imminent as of its report, it cited unnamed league sources describing Zegras as available for trade conversations, with Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek having mentioned Zegras' name in talks with other teams during the season.
What the report does not establish is which specific teams Verbeek discussed Zegras with, or a timeline for any potential move; the sourcing is attributed only to unnamed league sources via Seravalli, and no second outlet is included in this restoration to corroborate the trade-availability claim independently.
What changed: a difficult contract year got harder
Yardbarker's account detailed a rough 2023-24 season for Zegras before the Drysdale trade: he missed most of training camp during a contentious contract negotiation that ended in a three-year, $5.75 million average annual value bridge deal, then scored just one goal in his first 12 games before a lower-body injury sidelined him from November 7 to December 23. The Drysdale trade removed one of the few teammates reported to be closely tied to Zegras through that stretch.
The framing: a philosophical mismatch, not just a results problem
Yardbarker's reporting framed the tension as more than a slow scoring season, stating that "Zegras doesn't seem to mesh with the style of play Verbeek envisions for the Ducks" — a characterization the outlet offered as its own analytical read rather than as a quote attributed to Verbeek or Zegras directly. No on-record statement from either the general manager or the player is included in the source reviewed here.
What it signals: a rebuild entering a phase that reshuffles its own core
Trading a 2020 first-round defenseman like Drysdale is itself a signal that a rebuilding franchise is willing to move pieces once considered part of its young foundation; pairing that with league sources describing the other headline name from that same draft class as available marks a shift in how Anaheim's front office was valuing its own recent high picks by January 2024. The reporting reviewed here stops short of confirming whether that shift produced an actual Zegras trade in the period immediately following.
US In News compiled this archived account from contemporaneous coverage by Yardbarker, citing Frank Seravalli. It restores a story originally published on this site in January 2024; figures are as reported at the time.