The Anaheim Ducks may have traded the wrong center

The Anaheim Ducks have been on a roll since the Olympic break and have been jostling with the Vegas Golden Knights and the Edmonton Oilers for first place in the Pacific Division. Not all is well in Anaheim though, as their captain has been suspended and their number two center was a recent healthy scratch. Coupled with all that negativity in an otherwise positive season, is the return of Trevor Zegras to Anaheim on Wednesday night. What if Ducks GM Pat Verbeek traded the wrong center?

Trader's remorse

Make no mistake about it, Zegras has been thriving with the Flyers this season, after being traded from the Ducks for Ryan Poehling in the summer. While Poehling has been a very serviceable depth center option for the Ducks, Zegras has looked like his old self. With 54 points (22 goals, 32 assists) in 66 games, the sometimes winger and lately center, Zegras is second on the Flyers in scoring at a 0.82 points per game rate. Even though Zegras is still surprisingly abysmal at winning faceoffs (31.6%), he is also seeing more ice time than his previous five years in Anaheim. And he is still disgusting in the shootout.

Mason McTavish on the other hand, has done everything but thrive with the Ducks this season. In 61 games, McTavish has 32 points (13 goals, 19 assists) at a 0.52 points per game rate. While his scoring rate is above most of the bottom six forwards, Poehling has played better than McTavish of late and the ice time reflects that. In the last five games, McTavish has only had one game above 14 minutes of ice time (at Winnipeg). Poehling, on the other hand, has averaged more than 14 minutes of ice time in the Ducks last five games, with a couple games around the 16-minute mark.

Outside of his recent healthy scratch, McTavish has also spent some time on the wing, further illustrating how poorly he has played. With rookie sensation Beckett Sennecke (51 points) and veteran Alex Killorn (23 points) as his most common linemates, McTavish has had ample support; he's just fallen off.

What if?

What if Verbeek traded McTavish to the Flyers instead of Zegras? The return would have probably still netted the Ducks Poehling, just with better draft picks. Zegras would probably be skating on the wing in Anaheim, as the Ducks center depth includes Leo Carlsson, Mikael Granlund, Poehling, and Tim Washe. But having the playmaking and scoring ability of Zegras with the likes of either Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, or Sennecke, would be a sight to behold. The young guns for the Ducks have been given ample room to make mistakes and play a more fluid, rush style attack system, under Head Coach Joel Quenneville. Zegras should have gotten a chance with a coaching staff that wasn't hand cuffed to a physical mindset with a dump and chase mentality.

What's done is done

In the grand scheme of things, the Ducks are saddled with McTavish for the foreseeable future and cannot get a redo. From this junction in the 2025-26 season though, Zegras has looked much better than McTavish. Expect a warm welcome from the Anaheim faithful when Zegras makes his return to Honda Center. After the eventual video tribute and applause though, all bets are off.