With less than a week until the 2025 NHL Draft, Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek has made two big trades in June. After acquiring winger Chris Kreider from the New York Rangers earlier this month, he traded Trevor Zegras to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Ryan Poehling, the 45th overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft and a 2026 fourth-round pick.

On Monday, Verbeek met with local media via video conference call. Below is a full transcript of his availability, which has been lightly edited for clarity and length:

It felt like Zegras had a couple of injury-riddled seasons and the production wasn't quite there because of the injuries and other circumstances. So, why the decision to deal him away at this time when his value was perhaps at its lowest?

First of all, I want to thank Trevor for the past six seasons and his contributions to our club. Obviously, it was a difficult trade to make from that perspective. But, as we gather with our group, I think the big thing is we're trying to retool the roster in a way that all the pieces fit cohesively, where you have different players on different lines that complement each other. 
So, I think from that aspect, that's ultimately the decision that we came to, just kind of reshaping and retooling our roster.

And then on the flip side of that, what are you getting back in Ryan Poehling? Why did you decide to target someone like Ryan in this deal?

Ryan's 6-foot-2, he's 215 pounds. He has really good speed and, as I had mentioned before, (improving) some of the special teams, Ryan is the No. 1 guy that goes over (the boards) for the Flyers on a penalty kill, and (we're) looking to improve in that area. 
He is certainly going to add speed and he's going to add penalty-killing ability for our roster. I'm trying to shore up certain aspects of our special teams play, players who can do a good job there.

Kind of building off of what was just asked, to be a little more specific: What made this trade need to be done now? 
Was there any sort of thought to, 'Let's see how Trevor plays with (head coach Joel) Quenneville or was it that you didn't see the fit with him in the roster going forward?

You start imagining lines on how you want certain players to complement each other. We started looking at that scenario. Ultimately, we made the decision to move Trevor because of that. 
And I think getting a couple other picks to go with it, those picks could come into play. It gives us the flexibility to do some other things and look at other things to enhance our roster. So I think that went into it as well.

Do you feel that Zegras' value was lower than it had been in previous seasons?

I've never had any value (to gauge) because there was never really anything talked about in the past, as far as Trevor. I made the trade and I got what we wanted.

Freeing up that cap room and moving players around, or even looking towards next season with the amount of space that you need for players, is this a sign that you will be more aggressive than maybe people might have anticipated at free agency time to get a higher-skilled player to fill in what Zegras was bringing on the power play, etc.?

It takes two to tango to try and go after free agents. It's not always about the money. It's certainly about fit, for players to go to teams. 
And so we're going to look at everything we can to keep improving this team to make the playoffs. That'll be our goal moving forward. The cap space, we have lots of that, so we can manage it and work to improve the team.

There was no real serious discussion about trading Zegras previously. What changed as far as that is concerned? Did you talk to Quenneville when he came in? 
Was it just a matter of being deep down in the middle and not necessarily having a clear place for him?

Trevor, he's been wanting to play center and and I think that he'll be given that opportunity in Philadelphia to play center. He's more creative in the middle of the ice, and having to play from the wing, we're fortunate that there's Leo (Carlsson) and there's Mason (McTavish). We find that they're two pretty good centermen. So Trevor has to get pushed to the wing. And that probably doesn't suit his best attributes, being able to create from the middle. Bringing in Kreider kind of changed the line combinations from that aspect, and as I said before, we're looking to have different ingredients of players to complement each other's assets. You can't always have the most skilled guys on a line. 
I expect that line to be great. There's always another ingredient that helps make those skill guys better. So I'm looking for those types of scenarios to have our lines have a different look and a different feel.

Is it fair to say that you had maybe some questions about his fit maybe from the time you were negotiating his deal (in 2023)? Teams in that position are looking to lock guys up long-term, you guys went with a bridge term there for him and Jamie (Drysdale).

When I arrived to the organization, it's not like I had a long history (with Zegras), so the bridge deal allows us to catch a little longer look at that player. 
And so that's why we ended up doing a three-year deal. I wouldn't accept your premise on the question that he was never in my long-term plans. You have to intimately get all these players in their games, and I felt that I got to do that.

Just to clarify, I didn't say it was never in your plans. You may have had some questions––whether stylistically or positionally––because typically, when you have a guy lead the team in scoring, you try to lock him up long-term. But you guys went with, like you said, an evaluative period to get a better feel for the type of player. So I'm wondering if at that time you said to yourself, 'How does he fit in stylistically, positionally with the rest of the group?' That was my premise.

That's fair. 
But that's what we do. We analyze players on a daily basis and on a yearly basis. That's the approach I took with it.

I was wondering if Coach Quenneville had any input in this decision and what was his reaction to it?

No. When I talk to coaches, we have conversations. But Joel, ultimately, doesn't know the player like I know the player. I can go in and talk to him briefly about it, but it's not like I'm persuaded by Joel's opinion on this case. I've spoken to him after the trade today. He's understands that we're getting a good player back and going to be able to fill a role for us that we've been looking to fill, so he's excited for Ryan Poehling to come in here.

Zegras was one of the most marketable players in the NHL. I was wondering if you'd spoken to ownership and what their reactions were losing a guy like that.

Well, I spoke with Henry (Samueli) about it. He was completely fine. He understands that there's moves that have to be made. Ultimately, Henry wants to win, and I have to make moves that I feel improve the team and the chemistry and makeup of this team. So he was fine with it. 

With the Poehling and Kreider acquistions, you talked about the stylistic fits. Are they examples of the type of players that you are looking for in the overall picture when building out this club?

Chris is a big kid. He's 6-foot-3, 230 pounds. I'm looking at Ryan Poehling. He's 6-foot-2, 215 pounds. They’re mature players. And based on their roles and stuff, this is part of the different chemistry and different makeup that I'm looking to get accomplished. Where they fit will be ultimately left up to Joel as far as the line combinations, but we have a vision of where they're going to play. I think they're going to be great fits for our team and how Joel wants to play. He wants to play fast and they have that ability to play fast and forecheck. So it's going to be about playing fast.

You've spoken previously with us about being active this summer and there's certainly the potential to be very aggressive here. How much pressure comes with landing a major impact forward?

There's no pressure. We're going to go about the process. You're recruiting. It's no different than trying to recruit a player to go to college for your team. It's no different. 
It's the same process. You're dealing with professionals and you have to put your best foot forward and try and sell your team. You have to try and sell the players. There's a lot. Orange County, etc. Ultimately, players make decisions for a lot of different reasons. We're going to do our best. Hopefully, things work out.

Zegras is a restricted free agent again next year and you have so many guys that are RFAs next summer. Did the contract needing to be negotiated next summer play into alleviating that for you guys?

All of that stuff's part of the process. There's certain things when you're managing the cap and contracts, there's a lot of thought (about 2-3 years down the line). That was thought about. It was thought about, but I think, ultimately, we came down to just wanting to retool this club for this season.

Looking towards Friday's draft, you get another pick back (from this trade), 10 picks now. Does that make it easier to draft for best player available, or are you still going to be looking for specific needs out of the draft?

That's an interesting question because where we are at pick 10, it's going to be interesting to see what player’s available. You can go for best player available or something more specific. I think we feel comfortable with our depth and what we have and what we have coming. There's a lot of slots filled up to supply this Anaheim Ducks lineup in the future. 
So, yeah, we can probably take an aggressive swing at the player that we think has the most upside.

Poehling has only a year left on his deal. Is that something you'd like to explore, an extension with him? Do you see him as part of the long-term future of the franchise beyond this year?

Well, you guys are asking questions like I had a crystal ball. *laughs* Ultimately, we were excited to get him in here and we're going to evaluate, like I always do, with him when it comes to the whole season. Things look like he's going to be a really good fit, then obviously it's important that we try to get him under contract and go from there. I'll have six months to evaluate this.

I won't gaze too far into that crystal ball. Would you be willing to put that 10th overall pick in play if that can help execute a significant trade?

Yes. I'm looking at that as well. I think there's a lot of teams looking at that. You can go after a player who's probably in his prime right now and be able to add that to the group. So there's certainly some of that stuff we're exploring.

You talked about selling Anaheim on possible free agents. In terms of the trade market, do you see where that could be fruitful and maybe more of an avenue (compared to free agency)?

I'm looking at everything. There's free agency, but there's trade. I'm exploring trades. That's why I explored with Kreider. 
Sometimes, trades can be a little easier than free agents. So, I'm looking at everything.

This trade that you got done today, how quickly did it come together and how much did you explore, trading Trevor to different teams around the league besides Philadelphia?

I don't want to get into all the teams that I talked to, but I talked to every team. That's what we do. There was interest in Trevor and I made a decision that was probably the best fit for our club moving forward today.

Did it come together pretty quickly with Philadelphia, then?

There's been discussions. Does it come quickly? 
Everything can come together quickly, but it's where you finally make the decision to pull the trigger. And so, today was the day I decided to do it.

Featured image caption: Mar 14, 2025; Anaheim, California, USA; Anaheim Ducks center Trevor Zegras (11) skates against the Nashville Predators during the first period at Honda Center. Mandatory Credit: Ryan Sun-Imagn Images