Dallas Eakins coaches in southwest Germany, roughly 4,000 miles away from Philadelphia, however nonetheless will get requested about Trevor Zegras.
It’s not exhausting to know why. Zegras is thought for his flash and finesse, executing “Michigan” goals and viral no-look passes, and has a giant persona to match.
There are some who don’t approve. On Dec. 7, 2021, in a sport towards the Buffalo Sabres, Zegras’ elite talent produced considered one of the most memorable highlights of the 12 months.
The then-20-year-old skated behind the web, cradled the puck onto his stick, and flipped it over the goaltender to his Anaheim Ducks teammate, Sonny Milano, who batted it in.
Former Flyers coach John Tortorella questioned on an ESPN broadcast whether or not the play was “good for the game” (a remark he later walked again).
In April 2022, Arizona Coyotes TV analyst Tyson Nash accused Zegras of attempting to “skill it up,” following considered one of his lacrosse-style photographs, cautioning that “hot dogging” may come with penalties.
This is all to say that Zegras, now 25, is usually at the intersection of the debate between old-fashioned and new college, a spot he would presumably moderately not be.
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And when Eakins is requested about the polarizing star, whom he coached in Anaheim from 2020-23, he leans on a typical chorus.
“One of the most misunderstood people in the NHL,” Eakins, 59, stated. “Because everybody looks at him like, ‘Oh, he’s this cocky punk, surfer guy. Calls everybody dude. He doesn’t give a [expletive].’
“And I’m like, ‘He is so competitive. He wants to be the very best.’ He does. And trying to turn him into something else … it’s not a great plan.”
Eakins would know. When he was working in Anaheim, he stated folks inside the group would name to ask if he’d inform Zegras to cease doing “The Michigan.”
The coach would politely decline.
“I was like, ‘Why?’” he recalled. “‘He can do it. He can do it at full speed.’”
Things went downhill for Zegras after Eakins was fired in April 2023. He was changed by Greg Cronin, a strict disciplinarian who moved Zegras from heart to wing. The former first-round decide was hampered by accidents, and his identify started to flow into in commerce rumors.
To make issues worse, in January 2024, his closest good friend on the crew and longtime roommate, Jamie Drysdale, was traded to the Flyers.
“It made it less fun, for sure,” Zegras stated. “Just because it was pretty unexpected. Sports are weird like that. One day, you’re sitting next to him on the plane, and then [the next], he’s gone.”
The man who had graced the cowl of EA Sports’ NHL 23 began to look extra reserved. He instructed ESPN that he discovered himself “overthinking things,” which detrimentally affected his psychological well being.
But these days are over. Zegras was traded to the Flyers final June, and is in the midst of the finest season of his profession, en path to his first Stanley Cup playoff look.
He’s reunited with Drysdale, has jelled with his new teammates, has a coach in Rick Tocchet who believes in him, and says he’s having “more fun” this 12 months.
And Eakins can see a distinction, even an ocean away.
“It looks like he’s got his swagger back,” he stated. “And it’s important for him to play with swagger.”
‘The Odd Couple’
Drysdale and Zegras’ friendship has been well-documented, and it began in the most unconventional of the way. The first prolonged time they spent collectively was in 2021, on their means again from World Juniors.
Because of the COVID-19 outbreak, the starting of the NHL season had been pushed to January. Neither rookie had performed a sport for the Ducks but, and have been nonetheless in the throes of worldwide competitors.
Zegras represented Team USA in the match. Drysdale represented Team Canada. The Americans gained the gold medal sport, 2-0, and the shaggy-haired heart was named MVP.
Shortly after, the future teammates boarded a small chartered aircraft filled with Kings and Ducks prospects, to move them from Edmonton to Los Angeles.
It was a four-hour flight. Zegras and Drysdale didn’t say a phrase. But once they landed, they began to speak a bit, and by the time they met Eakins in entrance of the Ducks’ apply facility, they have been buddies.
“It kind of surprises me that they got so tight in an hourlong car ride,” Eakins stated. “But in the same breath, it doesn’t. You can call them Frick and Frack, Thing 1 and Thing 2. The Odd Couple. They were always attached at the hip.”
Their personalities have been nearly precise opposites. For all of Zegras’ exuberance, Drysdale was simply as quiet. Eakins in contrast the teammates to 2 sorts of espresso makers.
“You’ve got Drysdale, and there’s so much filter that it’s just literally nothing coming out,” he stated. “And then there’s Zegras. And it’s just the grounds pouring down into your cup. There is zero filter.”
Playing with ‘creativity’
Eakins was pleased to see Zegras and Drysdale reunited in Philadelphia final 12 months. He was additionally pleased to see Tocchet’s hiring round the identical time. The two coaches had gotten to know one another by the NHL, and Eakins discovered him to be an “open-minded guy.”
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It appeared like the excellent match for Zegras, who didn’t reply properly to hard-nosed teaching techniques.
“With Z’s personality, he needs somebody, number one, that he knows that they care about him,” Eakins stated. “He 100% knows that that person really cares for him.
“There’s going to be some harder days, where you need to explain things. And there’s going to be days where you really want to encourage the improvement he’s had.
“So, you need a coach with that mindset. And I think a coach, for Z, that is just an absolute hard-ass, my way or the highway, it doesn’t work. At least in my opinion. And the way Rick coaches, and I think the way Rick communicates, is he’s always going to be finding another way.”
Zegras bolstered this sentiment. He stated that Tocchet — whom he affectionately nicknamed “Taco” — by no means tried to vary him. There was no try to show him right into a third-line checking heart, or a participant who dumps the puck the second he good points the crimson line.
He simply tried to work with him.
“He’s a hard coach, in terms of what he expects out of you, but he’s very fair,” stated Zegras, who was moved again to heart in March. “And from the aspect of trying to play with creativity, and coming to a new team, and a new situation, he definitely let me do my thing a little bit at the beginning of the season.
» READ MORE: Trevor Zegras is at the top of his game. Now, can he master playing center?
“He set pretty high standards for me and the whole team. But that freedom and creativity to still play hockey is something that I’ve really enjoyed.”
It has helped Zegras attain new heights on the ice. This season, he recorded profession highs in targets (26) and factors (67) and led the Flyers in game-winning targets (5), power-play targets (10), and power-play factors (23).
Still with a aptitude for the dramatic, Zegras led the NHL in game-deciding shootout targets (5) and profitable shootout makes an attempt (7). But he’s additionally rekindled his love of the sport.
“He’s just been a pleasure to coach,” Tocchet stated in December of the impending restricted free agent. “He’ll do some stuff, make mistakes, but … he’s buying in, and I give him all the credit for the year he’s having. He’s a lot of fun in the room.”
‘Let Z be Z’
Eakins is six hours forward in Germany. He can’t watch NHL video games in actual time. So, each morning, he pulls up the highlights, paying shut consideration to the gamers he’s change into shut with.
Zegras is a type of. In Anaheim, the heart would typically be the final one to depart the area, and would poke his head into Eakins’ workplace earlier than he did. They’d discuss, over a glass of wine and a Gatorade, about hockey and every part else.
It wasn’t all the time simple. Eakins would maintain Zegras accountable however discovered that his pupil was open to suggestions. He would additionally search it out, shifts after video games with the Ducks’ teaching workers.
To Eakins, that is simply one other misperception. Behind the shootout snipes and backhanded finishes have been hours and hours of prep. The heart would work tirelessly on in-game situations, like cutbacks, one-timers, and passes to make on the energy play.
Now, all of that work is coming to fruition, at the proper time, in the proper place, and with the proper coach.
“Tocc has got accountability, but he’s going to let Z be Z,” Eakins stated. “And I think that’s really important.”
