Trevor Zegras’ new deal with the Flyers is another reminder that NHL money has moved into a different neighborhood.
What used to feel like a major commitment now can look almost modest once you stack it up against the latest contracts around the league. The Chicago Blackhawks gave defenseman Bowen Byram a $12.5 million extension over six years, a number that puts him among the NHL’s highest-paid defensemen.
The Flyers also tried to pry restricted free agent forward Leo Carlsson away from the Anaheim Ducks with a five-year, $90 million offer sheet, a contract that would have made Carlsson the highest-paid player in the league before the Ducks matched it and kept him. Anaheim then had to pay defenseman Pavel Mintyukov more than $7 million per season, even though he has not yet proven himself as a top-pairing player and still has clear flaws in his game.
That deal was essentially the same as the one Simon Nemec signed with the Calgary Flames, despite the two players being nearly identical.
And this is probably only the beginning. Contracts for players like Connor Bedard of the Blackhawks, Macklin Celebrini of the San Jose Sharks and Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche are coming down the road, and those numbers are likely to make today’s deals look even smaller.
Zegras’ contract gives a clean snapshot of how fast the market is changing. It represents 8.7% of this season’s $104 million salary cap.
Next season, with the cap rising to $113 million, that same share would be just 8%. Two years ago, when the cap sat at $88 million, a deal taking up 8.7% would have carried only a $7.6 million cap hit, while 8% would have barely cleared $7 million.
That’s the new reality teams and fans have to get used to.
For the Flyers, though, the Zegras deal still looks like a manageable gamble. There’s still uncertainty about exactly what kind of player he is.
His 2025-26 season was his first with Philadelphia, and it was a strong rebound after two rough, very bad years with the Ducks. The fresh start helped him offensively, and his shootout work was a big reason the Flyers got back into the playoffs.
Even so, questions remain. His all-around game is still under the microscope, along with his defensive play and his ability to drive the game at 5-on-5. He still has real areas to clean up, and how much progress he makes there will go a long way toward deciding whether this contract ends up looking smart or costly.
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Trevor Zegras Is Officially Settled In Philadelphia Now
Trevor Zegras is no longer in limbo, and Philadelphia finally has the kind of long-term answer it was waiting for after bringing him in as a restricted free agent this offseason. The Flyers locked up the 25-year-old forward on a four-year deal with an average annual value of $9.125 million, ending a process that had already reached the arbitration stage and giving the club a clearer picture of its core heading into the next phase.
For the Flyers, the timing matters almost as much as the contract itself. Zegras arrives off a career-best season that reinforced why the front office sees him as more than just a skilled addition, and general manager Daniel Briere made it clear the organization believes the winger can be part of the push to the next level. Now the focus shifts from paperwork to production, with Philadelphia expecting the kind of impact that justified the investment in the first place. [Read more 🡒]