Ducks’ Zegras is Ready to Bounce Back in 2024-25

After missing 51 games in 2023-24 due to injuries, the 23-year-old forward is focused on turning the page.

IRVINE, Calif. - Last season wasn’t easy for Trevor Zegras. He knows it. His head coach Greg Cronin knows it. His general manager Pat Verbeek knows it.

After he missed most of training camp and preseason due to a contract dispute, the beginning of the 2023-24 season was a tough one for Zegras, who managed just two points in 12 games before a lower-body injury knocked him out for about six weeks. That lower-body injury was later revealed to be osteitis pubis, an inflammation between the left and right pubic bones. It can cause pain and swelling in the groin and lower abdomen area. Zegras said that it became a problem for him almost immediately.

“(I) was just kind of battling with it from (the first day) that I got here,” Zegras said. “And then kind of getting back in the mix—maybe not at a hundred percent—probably didn't help. Then the season starts and you're kind of behind the 8-ball and maybe you're not feeling 100% physically (and) mentally, whatever it was. You just start thinking about all sorts of stuff that has nothing to do with hockey.”

Zegras returned from that injury with a flourish, scoring a lacrosse-style goal in his first game back. With three points in his first four games after his return, maybe all he needed was good health.

However, that good health didn’t last long as he suffered a broken ankle just eight games after returning from his first injury. A six to eight-week timeline turned into 10 weeks after a setback, but the results in his second return were fruitful as well. He finished the final 11 games of the season with eight points and was proving that he could be helpful at both ends of the ice, something that Cronin wanted to see more of from Zegras.

“He’s at that sweet spot,” Cronin said in an interview with Ducks Stream’s Alexis Downie. “He’s 23. The general consensus is that an athlete is what he’s going to be between 23 and 26… It doesn’t mean they’re going to get better, but that’s kind of the core of what they are. So he’s entering into that phase. He’s got skill, tremendous hands, great shot. That’s his core right now, that’s what his value system is. That’s what he demonstrates. So when he goes out to play a game, he wants to demonstrate to his teammates and to the fans, ‘I’m this type of player.’

“I think he learned last year that you have to play on the other side of the puck too. You have to be responsible defensively. You have to work hard away from the puck. That value system wasn’t in his playbook. So he goes to the World Championships and he gets sat because he wasn’t working away from the puck. I know the coaches (at Team USA) and I talked to (Zegras) about it and he was really good about it. He goes, ‘I’m going to use this as a springboard to prove my game.’”

Coming into training camp on Day One compared to when he came into camp last season is “a complete 180°” for Zegras. “The feeling of being here now compared to where I was last year, I felt like a lost puppy,” Zegras said. “New coach, new systems, all this stuff. So, it's nice to be back training with the guys, working out with the guys. Doing all the fitness stuff, the skating tests and all that stuff that nobody wants to do. But that helps prepare you for the season.”

Despite perhaps a less-than-stellar performance for himself, Zegras still enjoyed the experience of being able to represent his country again and compete against a few of his Ducks teammates.

“When we lost, I stayed in Czechia for four or five days and got to hang out in the square and watch (Radko Gudas and Lukáš Dostál) win the whole thing and see how excited the country was. It was pretty awesome.”

Part of that experience was being able to play on the same team as Johnny Gaudreau, who became Team USA’s all-time top scorer in the World Championships this past summer. Gaudreau and his brother, Matthew, were tragically killed by a drunk driver on Aug. 30 while out riding their bicycles.

Zegras and Gaudreau not only sat next to each other in the Team USA locker room, but their hotel rooms were next to each other as well.

“If I wasn’t knocking on theirs, they were knocking on mine to just come hang out,” Zegras recalled. “What happened was… I mean, you can't even put into words how you feel about it. He and Kevin Hayes were really close, and I got to play with Kevin and be his linemate for a little bit.

“I still kind of can't wrap my head around it because I feel like I was just with him for so long. Such good people, he and his wife. Everything that happened, it’s just tragic. Such a good family, such a good person. I'll always remember how he treated me and anytime anybody brings him up, that's kind of what I'll think about.”

Zegras’ offseason was more than just his time spent at the World Championships. He traveled to Paris for the French Open and then to Mykonos in Greece in between short stops in Naples and Capri.

“French Open was pretty cool,” Zegras said. “Food in Italy was amazing and I’m Greek, so Greece was a good time.”

A big fan of the sport, Zegras grew up playing tennis—his favorite player is Nick Kyrgios. “(I have a) tennis court at my house, so I play a ton in the summertime. I feel like it kind of translates to hockey and golf and all these things I like to do, so it's a lot of fun.”

Zegras also participated in the Shoulder Check Showcase along with teammates Frank Vatrano, Ryan Strome and Mason McTavish among others. Shoulder Check was created in honor of Hayden Thorsen, who took his own life in 2022. 

“It’s a great thing that our community back home has circled around,” Zegras said. “We did it last year and then this year tried to grow it a little bit more in terms of the guys that we wanted to invite and have come play and spread awareness. Luckily enough, I had a bunch of Ducks teammates who were able to come down and help support the cause. It’s great when you get a lot of different types of people from different types of teams and whatnot to come and (be) under one roof and bring some light to a really important cause."

Thorsen played for Mid-Fairfield, the same youth program that Zegras played for and that his father, Gary, currently helps run. He also worked out at the same gym as Zegras and New York Rangers forward Chris Kreider, who were both approached to help support Shoulder Check.

“It seemed like a no-brainer,” Zegras said. “I didn't know Hayden too well personally, but playing for the same youth team and my dad runs the Mid-Fairfield youth organization, it kind of hit home for me. (Kreider) is such a good human being that he felt the same way. Very fortunate enough to deal with him and the community is great and came out and supported. I can't thank the guys in this locker room who came and helped me out too.”

A hobby that Zegras picked up within the last year is playing the piano. He doesn’t play much now but said he initially learned so that he could play the Interstellar theme.

“When I broke my ankle, I got into it a little bit more because I had three, four months of not doing a whole lot,” he said. So (I) got a piano around that time and I can play a couple of things. Not great, but good enough. I could do a little Adele. I could do the 24/7 (Road to the NHL Winter Classic) riff from when the Penguins were doing it, I could do that one. I can't give away all my songs and secrets, but those are three that are pretty good.”

Something that Zegras has kept close to the chest but become more open about as time passes is his relationship with social media star Dixie D‘Amelio. The two met in the summer of 2023 when Zegras was back home on the East Coast.

“She lives in Norwalk, which is 15-20 minutes from my house,” Zegras said. “Ended up hanging out last summer. Went to dinner, went to the aquarium and kind of just stayed in touch. She lives in Beverly Hills during the year and obviously, I'm down here, so stayed in touch, hung out a bunch.”

Despite how much of his girlfriend’s work revolves around social media, Zegras doesn’t give the exposure it brings to him or her a second thought. “I don't even really think about it, to be completely honest,” he said. “I’ve got Instagram and that stuff, but she's great at what she does and she's mentally really strong and (there) for anything that helps me and the stuff that I'm going through, so she's awesome.”

With the addition of Leo Carlsson to the organization last season, Zegras’ long-term position appears to be on the wing with Carlsson and Mason McTavish as the two mainstays down the middle. Zegras played briefly with Carlsson last season but ended up playing center in most of his games because McTavish missed the last six games with an injury.

Thus far, it appears that Zegras and McTavish will play on a line together, something that has rarely happened since the two players joined the organization.

“It’s great,” Zegras said. Mason and I live two minutes from each other, so we pretty much hang out every day. So it's funny that we got put on the same line for the start of training camp, so it's been great. He's been picking me up in the morning with a cup of coffee, so it's been fun.”

Health will be paramount for the Ducks in 2024-25, but especially for Zegras, who could be facing the most important season of his young career ahead of him.