{"id":481745,"date":"2026-01-11T19:20:01","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T00:20:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=481745"},"modified":"2026-01-11T19:20:01","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T00:20:01","slug":"nhl-rumours-philadelphia-flyers-discussing-extension-with-top-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2026\/01\/11\/nhl-rumours-philadelphia-flyers-discussing-extension-with-top-forward\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Rumours: Philadelphia Flyers Discussing Extension with Top Forward"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s time for another round of NHL Rumours. As the 2025-26 season progresses, and teams take more action to secure players long-term, one team that has already been active is the Philadelphia Flyers. One contract extension for a pending free agent with the Flyers was completed on Monday. Now they may be turning their attention to another. Remember that all NHL rumours come from the original source and are subject to change.<\/p>\n<h2>NHL Rumours and Flyers In Extension Talks with Skilled Forward<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Rumour: The Fourth Period&#8217;s David Pagnotta said on the <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.nhl.com\/nhl-network\/topic\/nhln-nhl-tonight\/first-shift-david-pagnotta-6387383841112\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 7th edition of First Shift<\/a> that the Flyers and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/z\/zegratr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Trevor Zegras<\/a> have gone back and forth, and that he anticipates those conversations escalating in the second half of the season.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Analysis: <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/d\/dvorach01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Christian Dvorak<\/a> was set to be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. His contributions to the team including being a veteran centre, and that includes nine goals and 26 points in 42 games. In a thin centre market, this already proved valuable, and the Flyers <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2026\/01\/05\/philadelphia-flyers-contract-extension-forward-five-years\/\" target=\"_self\">signed Dvorak to a five-year extension<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Pagnotta is really trageting in on the negotiations. As he suggested about the contract talks over Zegras, &#8220;<em>They&#8217;ve already gone back and forth a few times and I do anticipate those conversations escalating in the second half of the season<\/em>.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Zegras, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/06\/23\/anaheim-ducks-trade-star-centre\/\" target=\"_self\">acquired by the Flyers in the offseason<\/a>, has delivered this season. With 17 goals and 41 points in 43 games, and it appears he will be next in line for a new contract. In addition, he is just six goals away from matching his career high, and on pace to set a new career high in points.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to Tuesday\u2019s game against Anaheim, GM <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/b\/brierda01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Danny Briere<\/a> said that there <a  href=\"https:\/\/973espn.com\/philadelphia-flyers-danny-briere-halfway-2026\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">haven\u2019t been any discussions as of yet between the Flyers and Zegras<\/a>, but expressed his interest in keeping the 24-year-old forward around for the long term.<\/p>\n<p>Zegras echoed those sentiments in the wake of Dvorak\u2019s contract extension. &#8220;<em>This is home for me. I love being here. These guys are amazing. I&#8217;m having a blast<\/em>.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>While the Flyers say there haven\u2019t been discussions, the report from David Pagnotta of <em>The Fourth Period<\/em> says differently.<\/p>\n<h3>What It Means<\/h3>\n<p>It makes sense for the Flyers to explore an extension. At 24, Zegras appears to have revitalized his career in Philadelphia as he enters his prime years. Moreover, Zegras has already endeared himself to the fan base. He is a creative mind and skillful player that the Flyers have longed for, with a tremendous personality to go with it.<\/p>\n<p>Zegras is currently in the <a  href=\"https:\/\/puckpedia.com\/signing\/8607\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">final year of a three-year deal<\/a> with a $5.75 million average annual value. The <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/4922295\/2023\/10\/02\/trevor-zegras-contract-signed-ducks\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">contract negotiations were infamous<\/a>, with Zegras holding out of training camp at the start of the 2023-24 season. Zegras <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2023\/10\/02\/star-rfa-resigns-with-anaheim-ducks\/\" target=\"_self\">signed on October 2, 2023<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The first two seasons of that contract, his final two in Anaheim, were part of the reason he was available in a trade for Philadelphia. Zegras played a combined 88 games with 18 goals and 47 points in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons.<\/p>\n<p>With the turnaround he&#8217;s had already in Philadelphia, it&#8217;s obvious Zegras factors into the Flyers&#8217; future. In any sense, both sides have clearly expressed mutual interest in making it happen. The timing and price tag for Zegras are what are still to be determined.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo: Jeff Curry &#8211; Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s time for another round of NHL Rumours. As the 2025-26 season progresses, and teams take more action to secure players long-term, one team that has already been active is the Philadelphia Flyers. One contract extension for a pending free agent with the Flyers was completed on Monday. Now they may be turning their attention [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5734,"featured_media":478237,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16,4547,34,4548,4321],"tags":[3806],"class_list":["post-481745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-flyers","category-hockey","category-news","category-nhl","category-rumours","tag-trevor-zegras"],"modified_by":"Levi Pike, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5734"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481745"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481745\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":481779,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481745\/revisions\/481779"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}