Some bad injury luck the past couple seasons muddied the picture and when a Zegras deal finally happened, it didn\u2019t yield the kind of return the Ducks originally envisioned for an offensive player who was taken ninth overall in 2019.<\/p>\n
Now, after giving the Ducks second- and fourth-round picks (along with fourth-liner Ryan Poehling) ahead of the 2025 NHL Draft, the Flyers are watching Zegras thrive in his new surroundings.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday night, the 24-year-old American pitched in two assists and scored the shootout winner \u2014 Zegras has the best shootout scoring percentage in the NHL among players with at least 15 attempts (65.2 per cent) since he entered the league in 2020-21 \u2014 in a 5-4 triumph over the Montreal Canadiens<\/a>. That left Zegras with four goals and a team-best 15 points in 13 outings.<\/p>\n So far, so good for a guy who just happens to need another contract at the end of this season.<\/p>\n Zegras, of course, is far from the only player trying to find his way with a new club this season. With that in mind, we thought it prudent to devote this week\u2019s power rankings to a new-guy check, as we see what\u2019s happening with the fresh faces in all 32 NHL boroughs.\u00a0<\/p>\n 1. Colorado Avalanche (8-1-5):\u00a0The oldest guy in the league (40 years, 241 days) has still got game. Brent Burns is skating 20:37 per night, more than all but four Avs. Does anyone deserve a ring more than this beaut?\u00a0<\/p>\n 2. New Jersey Devils (9-4-0):\u00a0Connor Brown \u2014 currently day-to-day with an ailment \u2014 has been a great fit in Jersey, with five goals in 11 outings. The right winger brings some of the middle-six jam this club can use.\u00a0<\/p>\n 3. Winnipeg Jets<\/a> (9-4-0):\u00a0Nobody expected Jonathan Toews<\/a> to set the world on fire coming out of the gate after two full years away from the game. But the 37-year-old has more than held his own and, with captain Adam Lowry now back in the lineup, the Jets can kind of mix and match a bit down the middle with Lowry and Toews taking different assignments. Seven points in 13 games is nothing to sneeze at for a guy who was out of hockey as long as Toews.\u00a0<\/p>\n 4. Dallas Stars (7-3-3):\u00a0Radek Faksa is both a new guy and an old friend from his previous time in Dallas. The big bottom-six centre is currently day-to-day with an injury. Elsewhere, the fourth line is home to two new faces in hard-to-play-against Adam Erne and six-foot-four Nathan Bastian.<\/p>\n 5. Anaheim Ducks (8-3-1):\u00a0Two veteran forwards, Chris Kreider and Mikael Granlund, have done amazing work in Anaheim. Kreider has been a first-line revelation with seven goals in eight outings this year, while Granlund \u2014 currently sidelined with an injury \u2014 has eight points in eight contests thanks in large part to a five-point game on Oct. 23 versus the Bruins.\u00a0<\/p>\n 6. Vegas Golden Knights (7-2-3):\u00a0How\u2019s this for a statistical anomaly \u2014 Mitch Marner<\/a> has seven two-point games with Vegas this year, five contests with zero points and no games with anything other than zero or two points.\u00a0<\/p>\n 7. Carolina Hurricanes (8-4-0):\u00a0You didn\u2019t have to be anywhere near Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night to feel Nik Ehlers exhale. The Canes\u2019 splashy UFA signing finally got his first goal in Carolina red in Game No. 12 of the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n Carolina\u2019s other big acquisition, defenceman K\u2019Andre Miller, had to miss his Rangers homecoming with an injury he might return from on Thursday night.\u00a0<\/p>\n 8. Utah Mammoth (9-5-0):\u00a0It hasn\u2019t been a seamless transition for JJ Peterka joining Utah from Buffalo, but he figures to be a top-six fixture for a long time to come. After winning the Cup in Florida, Nate Schmidt is seeing over 20 minutes per night for the Mammoth on the blue line, while banger Brandon Tanev is fifth in the league in hits with 52.\u00a0<\/p>\n 9. Montreal Canadiens (9-3-1):\u00a0For a guy who came advertised as an offensive defenceman, Noah Dobson<\/a> has really been more like a high-end steady-eddy presence for the Habs. The 25-year-old has formed a great pair with Mike Matheson and is on pace for 50 points without the benefit of playing on PP1.\u00a0<\/p>\n 10. Detroit Red Wings (9-5-0):\u00a0If you remove his first start with the team, when the Red Wings laid an egg in their home opener, John Gibson has a .909 save percentage in eight games with Detroit. On balance, the veteran has been a steadying presence for the Wings.\u00a0<\/p>\n 11. Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> (8-5-1):\u00a0It\u2019s safe to say Matias Maccelli<\/a> has not been a dream fit in Toronto this year, as his healthy scratch on Monday versus the Penguins would indicate. That said, he drew back in on Thursday and had a big 1-1-2 night against his old team, the Utah Mammoth. Nicolas Roy, who scored between 13 and 15 goals in each of the past four years in Vegas, has one tally so far in his short Leafs career.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n 12. Tampa Bay Lightning (6-5-2):\u00a0Tampa plucked Pontus Holmberg from its division rival in Toronto and the winger has been a reliable fourth-liner for the Bolts this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n 13. Los Angeles Kings (6-4-4): Corey Perry, the second-oldest player in the league, wasn\u2019t healthy enough to play until Oct. 23. Once he got in the lineup, though, \u2018The Worm\u2019 showed he still has the goods, notching five goals in eight games for a Kings team with fans who used to hate his guts thanks to his Ducks heritage.\u00a0<\/p>\n Another veteran, Joel Armia, is also off to a nice start to his Kings career with seven points in 14 outings while often lining up next to scorers Quinton Byfield and Kevin Fiala.\u00a0<\/p>\n New defencemen Brian Dumoulin and Cody Ceci have a gruesome expected goals for rate of 34.9 per cent when paired together.\u00a0<\/p>\n 14. Washington Capitals (7-5-1):\u00a0A team that had several key new faces last year really only added winger Justin Sourdif. He\u2019s been seeing 12 minutes per night on the fourth line.\u00a0<\/p>\n 15. Pittsburgh Penguins (8-4-2):\u00a0Anthony Mantha is making the most of his opportunity in Steeltown, popping six goals and 11 points in 14 games.\u00a0<\/p>\n 16. Seattle Kraken (6-3-4):\u00a0Frederick Gaudreau, who had seasons of 18 and 19 goals in Minny, has been limited to four games because of an upper-body injury. Big Mason Marchment has yet to find his stride in Seattle, with one goal in 11 games.\u00a0<\/p>\n 17. Florida Panthers (6-6-1):\u00a0With Dmitry Kulikov out long-term, the Cats will have to rely more on some defencemen they didn\u2019t anticipate getting so much responsibility. Jeff Petry was a nice right-shot, third-pair add in the summer and \u2014 in extremely limited minutes so far \u2014 he\u2019s formed a decent pair with fellow newcomer Donovan Sebrango.\u00a0<\/p>\n 18. Edmonton Oilers<\/a> (6-5-4): Andrew Mangiapane<\/a> has four goals in 15 games, which is roughly 21-goal pace. That\u2019s probably about what the Oilers hoped they\u2019d get from the low-risk UFA signing. Jack Roslovic<\/a> is starting to heat up, with seven points in his past six contests.\u00a0<\/p>\n 19. Philadelphia Flyers<\/a> (7-5-1): Trevor Zegras\u2019s start in Philly has been one of the best early-season stories around. Quietly, centre Christian Dvorak has also been a helpful add for the Flyers.\u00a0<\/p>\n 20. Ottawa Senators<\/a> (6-5-2):\u00a0Jordan Spence, thought to be a nice pickup for the back end of the defence corps in the summer, has been a frequent scratch. Veteran Lars Eller<\/a> is producing nicely in the bottom six with six points in 13 outings.\u00a0<\/p>\n 21. Boston Bruins (8-7-0):\u00a0Tanner Jeannot is doing what he was brought in to do, leading Bruins forwards with 33 hits. Viktor Arvidsson has come alive recently, finding the net in four of his past six contests.\u00a0<\/p>\n 22. Columbus Blue Jackets (7-6-0):\u00a0Charlie Coyle has been everything the Jackets could have hoped for as a 3C, notching nine points in 13 games and playing his steady game in a six-foot-three frame.\u00a0<\/p>\n 23. New York Islanders (6-5-2):\u00a0Emil Heineman, acquired in the big swap that sent Noah Dobson to Montreal, has responded well to having a bigger role on the Island. The gritty Swede has five goals and eight points in 13 contests this year, while posting the sixth-most hits in the league (51). Jonathan Drouin has a pedestrian one goal and seven points in 12 games.\u00a0<\/p>\n 24. Buffalo Sabres (5-4-4):\u00a0Where would the Sabres be without Alex Lyon\u2019s .915 save percentage in 10 games? Josh Doan has also been a really nice fit after coming over from Utah in the trade that sent Peterka west. The 23-year-old winger has nine points in 13 outings. The other guy Buffalo got in that swap, six-foot-five D-man Michael Kesselring, is just getting his feet wet after returning from an injury that delayed the start of his season. Kesselring has averaged just over 17 minutes in the four games he\u2019s played with the Sabres.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hockey fans already know the name, but this is not the blog. From Sportsnet, 32 Thoughts: The Podcast with NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas is a weekly deep dive into the biggest news and interviews from the hockey world.<\/p>\n![\"32](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/32-Thoughts-podcast-Elliotte-Friedman-Kyle-Bukauskas-640x360.jpg\")
32 Thoughts: The Podcast<\/p>\n