The Flyers still don’t have their answer down the middle, and that search keeps circling back to the same problem: true No. 1 centers almost never hit the market. Philadelphia has names it can point to - Trevor Zegras, now back on the wing, or the defensively steady Christian Dvorak - but the offensive issues haven’t gone away, and the need for a real top-line pivot is still staring everyone in the face.
That’s why Boston’s Pavel Zacha has entered the conversation.
Zacha is in the final season of the 4-year, $4.75 million deal he signed with the Bruins, and a hefty raise is coming. According to reporting around the league, Boston has already been floating him in trade talks because the two sides “haven’t been close” in extension discussions.
NHL insider Dave Pagnotta said Zacha has been “dangled” by the Bruins, and the logic is pretty clear: Boston has Elias Lindholm, Frasier Minten and James Hagens waiting for larger roles, with Matthew Proitas also in the mix and 6’7″ Dean Letourneau at Boston College. If the Bruins can get a strong return for a center who could leave for double his current salary or more this summer, they have to at least listen.
That makes Zacha the kind of name that could draw plenty of attention once the deadline chatter heats up. The real question is whether a team like the Flyers would get aggressive before the market gets crowded.
On paper, there’s a lot to like if you’re Philadelphia. The Flyers have leaned toward size in recent drafts, and Zacha fits that mold at 6’4″, per NHL.com.
They’ve also been starved for scoring punch. Only Travis Konecny has reached 30 goals in a season recently, doing it in both 2022-23 and 2023-24.
Before him, Sean Couturier was the last Flyer to hit that mark, back in 2018-19. Zacha just turned in a career year with Boston, finishing with 30 goals and 65 points.
He brings more than offense, too. Zacha has been well above 50% at the faceoff dot in each of the last three seasons, and Boston has trusted him on its second penalty-kill unit. That kind of two-way reliability matters, especially for a player who is 29 and would fit into the same broad competitive window as Travis Konecny, Christian Dvorak and Travis Sanheim.
There are also limits to the appeal. Zacha’s playoff production hasn’t matched his regular-season value.
In 31 career postseason games, he has only two goals, with one coming in each of his two most recent appearances. And while last season was easily his best - 30 goals, 65 points - he has only two other seasons with 50 or more points.
In Other News...
Flyers Already Face A Franchise-Level Problem After Another Lopsided Loss
The early-season alarm bells keep getting louder for the Flyers, who were beaten 5-1 by the Bruins and are now off to a six-game losing streak to open the year. It is only the second time in franchise history they have started this poorly, and the latest loss looked familiar in all the wrong ways, with Boston controlling play for long stretches and Philadelphia chasing the game again.
The Flyers were without Travis Konecny, Cam York and Rasmus Ristolainen, a blow to a lineup already trying to find traction. The absences have only added to the pressure on a group that has been outshot badly through six games and is struggling to generate much offense at all, leaving an increasingly uncomfortable question hanging over a start that has already gone from disappointing to historic. [Read more 🡒]
David Jiricek Just Gave The Flyers A Real Reason To Believe
David Jieks latest turn against the Ottawa Senators on Oct. 8 offered the kind of all-around shift the Flyers have been waiting to see more often. He played about 18 minutes, showed up in the shot-creation department and looked comfortable enough to stay involved in key situations at both ends, a noticeable step forward from some of his earlier outings.
Jiek also found his way onto the top power-play unit, where he was part of a sequence that helped set up one of Matvei Michkovs goals. He still finished without a point, but for a Flyers team trying to sort out how much trust to place in him, the performance mattered because it suggested he can do more than just survive on the ice. [Read more 🡒]
Flyers Still Searching For First Win As Tocchet Tests New Look In Boston
The Flyers head into TD Garden trying to end the road trip on a positive note and, more important, to get their first win of the season. Philadelphia has spent the week sorting through lineup decisions and special teams looks ahead of a matchup with a Boston club that arrives with a recent victory, and the game offers another chance for Rick Tocchet to keep evaluating how the group fits together in a new setting.
There is still a sense that certain combinations are starting to take hold, even as the results have not followed yet. The projected lineup shows the coaching staff leaning on some familiar pairings and trying to stabilize both ends of the ice, with the next question being whether those choices can finally translate into something tangible in a difficult building against an opponent that already has its footing. [Read more 🡒]