Penguins Fans Disappointed After Kyle Dubas Misses Opportunity to Add Offensive Star for Pennies

On Monday, the NHL was rocked by a report from Elliotte Friedman that the Anaheim Ducks were preparing to trade Trevor Zegras, with fans of most teams seeing this as a golden opportunity to acquire a former first-round pick that has struggled in recent years.

Just hours after this report, he was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers for what was a fairly lowly return even with his injuries in recent years, with plenty of fans online mocking the return that Pat Verbeek and the Ducks got for a former star level player.

Penguins fans especially were frustrated with the entire situation, as many believed that this small return would have been perfect for Pittsburgh, especially given that Evgeni Malkin is set to depart the team at the end of the 2025/26 campaign, with Zegras presenting the perfect 2C replacement long-term.

On top of that, given the reports that Kyle Dubas and the team are set to sell this summer, they could have potentially offloaded a veteran to land Zegras, who is just 24-years of age despite having four years of NHL experience, and for those that continue to criticize the General Manager, this will be another missed opportunity that they use against him.

Some Penguins fans have been calling for the Penguins to acquire Zegras as far back as 2023, but ultimately, the ask must have been too much for Pittsburgh in this deal to make it happen, or else Dubas missed a golden opportunity.

Ultimately, this is a great low-risk, high-reward deal for the Flyers, and something that the Penguins should have definitely been in on, but now, they'll have to face him as a rival for years to come.