The season Trevor Zegras has had is a microcosm of how poorly his Anaheim Ducks have fared in the 2023-24 NHL season.
Zegras, a 22-year-old center, had surgery on a broken ankle in January and is out right now – this after he already missed six weeks in November and December with a lower-body injury. The Ducks are nowhere near playoff contention, sitting 20 points out of the last-wild card spot in the Western Conference.
Still, Zegras is a former first-round pick who should regain his scoring touch when he returns. The only question is, where will that be? BetCalifornia.com continues covering topics of interest to would-be California sportsbooks customers by looking at the chances of him being traded.
Trevor Zegras Trade Odds
Trevor Zegras Next Team Odds
Neither of the top two teams on our list will be in the playoffs this season. The Montreal Canadiens (our slight pick as the favorite to acquire Zegras with a 9.1% chance, or +1000 odds) have 52 points and are sixth in the Atlantic, 13 points behind the Tampa Bay Lightning for the final automatic playoff spot in the division. The Habs are also eight points in arrears of the Detroit Red Wings for the final Eastern Conference wild card spot.
The second team in our odds is Anaheim’s California rival in San Jose. The Sharks (a 6.3% chance, or +1500 odds), who are even worse this season, sitting second-to-last in the entire league.
These odds were created exclusively for BetCalifornia and would not be available at legal California sports betting apps even if they were operational.
Zegras, Ducks Struggling This Season
With all of his injuries, Zegras has only played 20 games this season. And even when he has played, he has not displayed his usual production level, with four goals, three assists and a minus-5 rating. That’s nowhere near the pace of 2021-22 and 2022-23, both seasons in which he scored 23 goals. Last season he also had 42 assists to lead Anaheim with 65 points.
But the Ducks had the worst record in the league last season (23-47-12, 58 points) and are pretty close to the basement this season. Anaheim (19-32-2, 40 points) is ahead of only San Jose (35 points) and Chicago (31) in the West and in the NHL overall.
Which brings us to the question of whether the Ducks might want to dump assets to try to build for the future – even if Zegras seems like a player that an organization would want to keep so it can build around him. Still, reports are swirling that Anaheim might consider dealing the native of Bedford, New York.
A couple of teams on our list are in playoff contention – the Philadelphia Flyers (+2000 odds, 4.8% implied probability) and the Detroit Red Wings (+2500, 3.8%). Zegras has a salary cap hit of $5.75 million per year this season, and for two more years through 2025-26, according to Spotrac.com. The site estimates that the Ducks have nearly $9 million in available cap space, but they also have significant money tied up for a few more years with veteran forwards such as Troy Terry, Alex Killorn and Ryan Strome.
Yet all of those factors might not lead to a deal for Zegras. The way we see it, by far the most likely outcome (at -200 odds or 66.7% probability) is that the center either stays in Anaheim, the organization that drafted him nearly five years ago, or is dealt to a team other than the ones we have listed.
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