Guests surrounded the roulette tables, lined up their chips, and prepared for a night of giving back at the fourth annual Flyers Casino Night. Each year the fundraiser invites fans to interact with players as they participate in casino-style games, making it a team-favorite event.
“It’s a great night for a good cause,” said goaltender Samuel Ersson. “It’s one of those nights you always look forward to and circle on your calendar. So it’s nice to finally be here.”
Similar to last year’s Casino Night, the event featured a silent auction that included signed memorabilia from a number of different Philly athlete of all sports — including a pair of signed Allen Iverson Reeboks — as well as trips to destination vacation spots such as Italy, Mexico, and Croatia, and plenty of signed Flyers merch.
All proceeds from the event go toward Flyers Charities, to support their mission of “creating strong communities by eliminating financial barriers and reviving play spaces to grow the game of hockey and aiding local families affected by cancer throughout the Greater Philadelphia region.”
According to Blair Listino, the president of Flyers Charities, the event continues to grow each year — adding more sponsors and even more fan activations, including a new venue, a new area for guests to get live watercolor portraits, and a spot to make their own Boxbar charm bracelets.
“Every year we try to be a little bit creative about different prizes,” said Listino, who is also CFO of Comcast Spectacor and the Flyers’ alternate governor. “And every year there’s a lot of new faces. We have a lot of new sponsors and I think it’s really exciting. It’s just showing that this event has been growing every single year and more people want to get involved.”
Jamie Drysdale shows off his new suit on the red carpet.
Vie, located on Broad Street, rolled out the red carpet and players dressed to impress as they prepared to interact with fans. Flyers centers Christian Dvorak and Trevor Zegras arrived in Christian Dior and Ferragamo dress shoes, respectively. Meanwhile, 23-year-old defenseman Jamie Drysdale made a last-minute trip to State & Liberty on Walnut Street.
“Well, I didn’t have a black suit,” Drysdale said. “And I figured Casino Night you kind of need a darker suit — navy, black. So, I went out and got this yesterday.”
Although each player had a different red carpet look, they each shared the same answer when asked what they were looking forward to the most from the night: celebrating a good cause with fans.
“It’s awesome,” said forward Owen Tippett. “The fan interaction is a lot of fun. You get to meet all the fans that come out and support us, as well as mingle around and play games.”
Last season, through fundraising events like their Casino Night, Flyers Carnival, and Gritty 5K, Flyers Charities raised over $1.5 million.
Trevor Zegras sat down for his first interview on Day 1 of training camp in September, sporting a Nirvana shirt.
“Come as you are, as you were, as I want you to be,” the band’s frontman Kurt Cobain would sing.
Well, the Flyers wanted Zegras to come as he is, as he was, and as they want him to be. There was no rush, but Zegras, who was acquired in June from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for Ryan Poehling, a 2025 second-round pick, and a 2026 fourth-rounder, hurried up the process. Nevermind the past two years, he has trended in the right direction.
“It’s fun to see the joy in his game again,” Flyers general manager Danny Brière said recently. “You can tell he’s having fun playing the game. I think for hockey players, it’s a big part of having success is that you’ve got to play with passion, you’ve got to play with enthusiasm, and I think that’s what we’re seeing in Trevor’s game.
“I don’t know what happened in Anaheim, that’s not my business. But we see a young man who is having fun and making plays, going out there trying to make a difference. It’s been fun to watch, too, for our fans, adding another guy with high-end skill that can get you out of your seat.”
‘Here we are now, entertain us’
The Flyers have long needed a game-breaker and a creative force to draw fans out of their seats again. Matvei Michkov brought some of those qualities last season, and the hope was that adding Zegras would infuse more.
Twenty-six games into his tenure in orange and black, the 24-year-old has showcased the rare skill level that has long wowed fans. He is tied with Tyson Foerster, who was placed on injured reserve on Wednesday, atop the Flyers’ leaderboard with 10 goals and leads the team with 26 points.
And although there might be some bruises on the fruit, he has helped the power play come in bloom as four of his goals and 11 of his points have come on a man advantage that is tied for 18th in the NHL. He’s also had a knack for the dramatic, scoring the game-winning goal in Saturday’s win over New Jersey, and clinching two other games via the shootout.
Trevor Zegras’ trademark skill and swagger have popped from Day 1 with the Flyers.
The kid who grew up idolizing Patrick Kane, aka “Showtime,” has stolen the show. He is a perfect 4-for-4 this season and ranks No. 1 all-time among players with at least 15 shootout attempts at 68% (17 goals on 25 shots).
“Especially when you have Trevor Zegras on your team, you start almost with one up,” said Sean Couturier, captain of a Flyers team that is a perfect 5-0 in shootouts this season. “So we like our odds in shootouts.”
But maybe the biggest difference for Zegras this year is that the coaching staff has confidence in him. Zegras is averaging 18 minutes, 14 seconds a night, the second-most among Flyers forwards, and his highest amount since the 2022-23 season.
“He’s done a really nice job,” coach Rick Tocchet said last week in South Florida. “He moves his feet. He can make some plays out there. They’re hard to find, and he’s got to be a difference maker for us, which he is. He’s making some good plays for us.”
After a tough few years under Greg Cronin in Anaheim, Trevor Zegras has found a coach in Rick Tocchet who believes in him.
Heart-Shaped Box
Although he says you have to prioritize the team game, Zegras notes that he is always building and working on his own game. He can often be spotted doing that on the ice long after practice is done.
He’s also often on the ice talking to Tocchet, whom he affectionately has nicknamed Taco. It looks as if the two are either going over reads, structure, systems, and positioning. In October — after a win against the Seattle Kraken, no less — he texted Tocchet that he wanted to watch video with him, too.
“It’s good,” Zegras said of his relationship with Tocchet. “He watches a lot of hockey, and he played for a long time. There’s just little stuff that he sees; it’s definitely good stuff, important stuff, and they’re usually really good points, so I try to listen.”
Bobby Brink and Trevor Zegras stayed out long after #Flyers practice wrapped up today. In these pics they were working on saucer passes. Zegras was working earlier with an assistant coach on backhand saucer passes too. pic.twitter.com/XecZ8CNFJm
“Unreal, coachable kid. You can tell him anything. We talked last game, I thought he didn’t really skate, didn’t do much, and he actually comes up to me, and he goes, ‘Man, I didn’t move my feet last game, I can really tell,’” Tocchet said, referencing the Nov. 24 game in Tampa Bay.
The bench boss also likes that Zegras is correcting mistakes. He had a big turnover early in the Flyers’ 6-5 shootout win against the St. Louis Blues on Nov. 14 that led to a goal. How did he rebound? By playing a role in each of the Flyers’ goals in regulation and scoring the lone shootout tally.
But while the good times are rolling, the big question remains: At five-on-five, is he a center or a winger?
Right now, it’s a little bit of both.
According to Natural Stat Trick, he’s played just 26 minutes, 46 seconds across the first 26 games of the season down the middle. He’s skated the majority of the season on a line with Christian Dvorak and Owen Tippett — although on Wednesday night, Travis Konecny was on their wing — with Zegras deployed in a hybrid center role.
“Yeah, I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future, but I think it’s a great setup for him,” said Brière when asked if maybe a hybrid is best right now for a player who may be a natural centerman but has spent the last two seasons almost exclusively on the wing.
“The way we have him with the centers that we have, it gives him the chance to take more chances on offense and not have to always come back and be the first player back, battling down deep in the defensive zone.
“He has to do it at times — everybody at times gets caught being the first guy back — but he doesn’t have to do it every shift, and I think it opens him up, frees him up a little bit on the other side of things.”
The hybrid role focuses on the play below the hashmarks in the defensive zone and being the high man, when applicable, in the offensive zone. It’s about being the first forward or F1 — and about faceoffs. Not really known for his faceoff prowess, Zegras is feeling more confident in the circle and has been getting help from Couturier.
“Dvo’s great down low. Not that he needs [it], but I can switch maybe during the shift,” Zegras said before the Flyers’ win last week against the Florida Panthers, before adding with a smile, “or if he wants to maybe cheat on some faceoffs, and he ends up getting kicked out of them, I feel fine getting in there.”
‘Found my friends’
While he’s no longer a teen, Zegras definitely has some spirit. Bounding into the locker room these days with his long flowing locks and a grin mixed in with some chatter, the 24-year-old looks rejuvenated on and off the ice.
“Just extremely grateful that it ended up being Philly.” Gary Zegras, Trevor’s father, told The Inquirer during the dad’s trip in November. “The closeness is incredible. We get to come to the games, and we get to spend a lot of time down here. He’s got a lot of other family that have been coming to the games and friends in the area. So that’s great for him, and it’s also great for us, selfishly.
“And then between management, between the coach, and the other players on the team, it’s just such a great fit. You just see the smile on his face, and you just can tell that he feels comfortable here, and it’s translating to — I know it’s early in the season — but he certainly looks a lot more like his old self. And I think a lot of that has to do with the environment, 100%.”
Zegras has several familiar faces in the room, including his best buddies Jamie Drysdale, his teammate in Anaheim, and Cam York, whom he played with as a teenager at the United States National Team Development Program.
“Just fun to have him around in the locker room. … Obviously, what he’s done has been really great for our team,“ York said. ”He’s added a lot of skill and good vibes, good mojo to the team, I think, and that goes a long way in this league.”
Added Drysdale: “He’s a free spirit. He does his thing. We all love and appreciate him for it. He keeps it light, and he’s playing really good hockey. Yeah, we’re just lucky to have him, and he fits in perfectly here.”
Zegras has found his spark again. But has he found a home, too?
Of course, Brière had no comment when asked recently about a new contract for Zegras. The forward is a restricted free agent on July 1, and the general manager rarely signs players to extensions during the season. But, while it’s early, there is no doubt that Zegras is the type of talent and game-breaker the Flyers have been searching for the past several years.
According to Puckpedia, the cost to keep him around begins at $5.75 million, the minimum qualifying offer the Flyers must give him to retain his rights. But with the salary cap rising, there is no doubt he will command a much higher number.
Jamie Drysdale, Cam York, and Trevor Zegras (center) are best friends and are relishing getting to play together with the Flyers.
A good comparable to Zegras is probably Shane Pinto. The Ottawa Senators center, who was drafted 23 spots below him in the 2019 NHL draft, just signed a four-year extension with an annual average value of $7.5 million. Zegras has eight more points than Pinto this season.
He also has more points than other recent center signings like Utah’s Logan Cooley (eight years at $10 million per), his former Ducks teammate Mason McTavish (six years, $7 million), and Chicago’s Frank Nazar (seven years, $6.59 million). Dallas Stars forward Wyatt Johnston, who got four years at $8.4 million last season, is the only real comparable who has more points than Zegras so far this season.
Two more worth noting are Utah’s JJ Peterka and Winnipeg’s Gabe Vilardi, who, like Zegras, are capable of playing center but have also played a lot of wing. Peterka signed this offseason for five years at a $7.7 million average annual value, and Vilardi got six years at $7.5 million.
Factoring in his recent history and that all but Vilardi are younger than Zegras, the expectation is that he’ll get at least five years — which is the length York, who is also represented by Pat Brisson, signed for in July — and between $7.5 million and $8 million per year.
Brière likes to wait; maybe he shouldn’t. If Zegras keeps trending the way he is — he is on pace for a career-high 32 goals and 82 points — it puts the past two years, and his injury concerns, in the rearview, and the ask could be closer to $9 million.
Is that too much for a kid in his mid-20s who has found his game again and looks to be back on a star trajectory? Probably not. Does it truly matter if he’s that top center or the top winger? In reality, not really, because in the end, he’ll still be a critical piece of a Flyers team moving through a rebuild with the focus on being a Stanley Cup contender for years to come.
Zegras loves playing in Philly. He loves the spotlight. It sounds like a happy marriage because, while for years and years, Zegras roamed, he now feels like he’s back home.
And if he does stay for the long haul, it sounds like Flyers fans will be in nirvana.
Trevor Zegras isn’t going anywhere but the Flyers would be wise to sign him now and try and save a few bucks.
With leading scorer Tyson Foerster out 2-3 months after getting injured in Monday’s 5-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, there were questions about how the Flyers would find offense.
The answer? Easily.
The Flyers beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-2 for their fourth win in the past five games. Since losing two straight in mid-November to the Ottawa Senators and Edmonton Oilers, they have gone 7-3-0 and have not lost two in a row since.
They did lose defenseman Cam York late in the second period. After Trevor Zegras was boarded by Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin in the offensive zone, York was involved in a scrum. He did not return and coach Rick Tocchet said postgame he thought it was an upper-body injury.
“I think he got hit behind the net, or something,” Tocchet said. “We were trying to look for it. But I think he got hit behind the net a little bit late or something. I haven’t talked to the doctors.”
Dahlin was assessed a five-minute major and was ejected from the game, but the Flyers did not score on the power play.
But they had already scored a pair with the man advantage. It came in the first period when the Flyers scored a trio of goals after — no surprise here — trailing 1-0.
Travis Konecny scored on the power play to tie the game 1-1 while on the ice with the revamped unit of Zegras, Travis Sanheim, Owen Tippett, and Matvei Michkov. Konecny got the puck along the boards and carried it above the left faceoff circle and toward the middle before putting the puck past the blocker of Sabres goalie Colten Ellis for his sixth goal of the season.
The Sabres challenged the call with Tippett in front, but the video review confirmed that there was no interference before the goal. Because of the failed challenge, the Flyers went right back on the power play.
Flyers goaltender Sam Ersson makes a save on a shot from Sabres’ Josh Doan in the first period.
Zegras scored his 10th goal of the season on the ensuing man advantage. It tied him with Foerster for the team lead.
The Flyers moved the puck around the outside well. Konecny skated down the left boards before sending the puck back to Sanheim to open space. The defenseman saw Zegras with his stick up in the air, awaiting the pass above the right circle. After receiving it, he put the puck toward the net, and it ended up going off the skate of Buffalo’s Ryan McLeod to give the Flyers the lead 38 seconds after tying the game.
Zegras said postgame he was actually looking to get the puck to Konecny across the ice.
Twenty-one seconds later, it was 3-1. After putting the follow line of Noah Cates, Bobby Brink, and Nikita Grebenkin — who was promoted to the top nine after the Foerster injury — on the ice, the trio connected.
Grebenkin deflected a pass intended for Tage Thomson and collected the puck inside the blue line before feeding Brink, who dropped it to Cates. The center put the puck on goal, and Brink cleaned up the rebound for his seventh goal of the season. It gave the Flyers three goals in 59 seconds.
In the second period, it was Brink who fed Cates for the goal seconds after a Flyers power play ended. Jamie Drysdale got the loose puck and carried it to the middle of the ice before dishing to Brink atop the right circle. He carried it down and set up Cates for a redirect and his sixth of the season.
Later in the period, Tippett made it 5-1 with his third goal in three games. Emil Andrae kept the puck in at the blue line and sent it down the boards to Sean Couturier, who sent a no-look pass to Michkov. The Russian winger then did the same to Tippett with Mattias Samuelsson, the son of former Flyers defenseman Kjell Samuelsson, on him.
Tippett went backhand to forehand and had his initial shot go off Ellis’ shoulder. But the Flyers forward stuck with it and battled the puck out of midair for his ninth of the season.
Tocchet didn’t like the first goal the Flyers gave up. After Monday’s game, he chastised the penalty kill, citing that he didn’t like the structure; he prefers an aggressive diamond and hates the box. Well, the goal by Sabres forward Jason Zucker was because the penalty kill fell into the box and he was able to score in front off a pass from Josh Doan.
Buffalo’s second goal of the night, which made it 4-2, came off the stick of Bowen Byram. On a bouncing puck, the defenseman fired the puck past Flyers goalie Sam Ersson.
Breakaways
The Flyers now have 11 comeback wins and are 10-6-2 after trailing first. Both lead the NHL. … Ersson made 27 saves, and the Flyers put 35shots on goal.The Flyers’ goalie is now 5-2-2 on the season. …Forward Carl Grundström, who was recalled from Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League on Tuesday, and defenseman Noah Juulsen were the healthy scratches. … The Flyers challenged a goal by the Sabres in the third period, and it was determined that Buffalo was offside.
Up next
The Flyers have a few days between games, but next face the NHL’s top team, the Colorado Avalanche, on Sunday (1 p.m., NBCSP). How good are the Avalanche? They’ve lost once in regulation this season.
