{"id":386671,"date":"2026-01-04T01:05:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T01:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/386671\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T01:05:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T01:05:08","slug":"nhl-rumor-mill-january-3-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/386671\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Rumor Mill \u2013 January 3, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Check out the latest on the Flyers and Penguins in today\u2019s NHL Rumor Mill.<\/p>\n<p>LATEST FLYERS SPECULATION<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6936378\/2026\/01\/03\/flyers-zegras-michkov-contract-trade\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">THE ATHLETIC<\/a>: Kevin Kurz was asked what a contract extension for <a href=\"https:\/\/puckpedia.com\/player\/trevor-zegras\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Trevor Zegras<\/a> would look like.<\/p>\n<p>The 24-year-old forward is in the final season of a three-year deal with a salary-cap hit of $5.75 million. Acquired from the <a href=\"https:\/\/puckpedia.com\/team\/anaheim-ducks\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Anaheim Ducks<\/a> last summer, he leads the Flyers with 39 points.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-104426\" class=\"wp-image-104426 lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Zegras-218x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"157\" height=\"216\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 157px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 157\/216;\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-104426\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Philadelphia Flyers forward Trevor Zegras (NHL Images).<\/p>\n<p>Kurz speculated that Zegras could get a five-year, $45 million contract, with an average annual value of $9 million. It would make him the highest-paid player on the rebuilding Flyers, and enable him to sign another potentially monstrous deal when he turns 30.<\/p>\n<p>SPECTOR\u2019S NOTE: It will be interesting to see if Zegras\u2019 negotiations with the Flyers are smoother than those with the Ducks. The discussions for his current contract weren\u2019t settled until Oct. 2, 2023. By that point, he missed training camp and the preseason, which adversely affected his play and contributed to a lower-body injury that cost him 20 games in 2023-24.<\/p>\n<p>Zegras has arbitration rights this time, giving him more leverage with the Flyers than he had with the Ducks. If he maintains his point-per-game pace, he could seek more than $9 million annually.<\/p>\n<p>Kurz doesn\u2019t see the Flyers making big moves at the March trade deadline. He indicated they have no obvious candidates to sell that wouldn\u2019t hurt their overall roster depth, and they aren\u2019t in a position to trade high-end futures for rental players.<\/p>\n<p>If the Flyers make a move, Kurz speculated that they might acquire a depth piece or two.<\/p>\n<p>UPDATE ON THE PENGUINS<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pittsburghhockeynow.com\/pittsburgh-penguins-one-timers-first-impressions-making-sense-of-trades-more-coming\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">PITTSBURGH HOCKEY NOW:<\/a> Dan Kingerski pointed out that winger Anthony Mantha\u2019s improved play this season is helping the Penguins and improving his trade value if they become sellers by the March trade deadline. They could also opt to re-sign him or keep him as an \u201cown rental\u201d for the playoffs and let him depart via free agency in July.<\/p>\n<p>Recently-acquired defenseman <a href=\"https:\/\/puckpedia.com\/player\/brett-kulak\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Brett Kulak<\/a> has played significantly better since joining the Penguins and being paired with <a href=\"https:\/\/puckpedia.com\/player\/kris-letang\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Kris Letang<\/a>, which has also improved the latter\u2019s performance. That could increase Kulak\u2019s trade value if the Penguins become deadline sellers.<\/p>\n<p>SPECTOR\u2019S NOTE: As always, much will depend on where the Penguins are in the standings when the calendar flips to March. If they\u2019re still in contention by then, they won\u2019t jeopardize their chances of reaching the playoffs by shipping out Mantha and Kulak. Not when the hockey world keeps clamoring for <a href=\"https:\/\/puckpedia.com\/player\/sidney-crosby\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Sidney Crosby<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/puckpedia.com\/player\/evgeni-malkin\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Evgeni Malkin<\/a> to get one more shot at the postseason before their careers end.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Check out the latest on the Flyers and Penguins in today\u2019s NHL Rumor Mill. LATEST FLYERS SPECULATION THE&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386672,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-386671","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}