Trevor Zegras #11 of the Anaheim Ducks is congratulated at the bench after scoring a goal during the first period of a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Honda Center on October 26, 2022 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
SAN JOSE – San Jose Sharks fans might have a new favorite Anaheim Ducks player to jeer whenever the two teams get together in the weeks and years to come.
While world-class antagonist Corey Perry played that role for 14 years, Trevor Zegras, now in his second full NHL season, drew the ire of fans and the Sharks themselves after he speared defenseman Matt Benning between the legs on Tuesday at SAP Center.
For the incident, Zegras received a two-minute minor penalty for slashing and a $1,500 fine from the NHL. He also received a few boos that night from the Sharks fans in attendance, and perhaps injected a bit more animosity between the two teams in advance of Saturday’s rematch in San Jose.
“It’s a sport played in a small area and it’s fast and physical, so people are going to be (ticked) off and things are going to happen,” Sharks coach David Quinn said Saturday morning when asked if the incident adds fuel to the rivalry, and whether there can be some benefit to that.
“The great thing about our game is everybody is held accountable.”
“I like to play hard and sometimes other players don’t like that,” Benning said. “A lot of us are trying to play hard against skill, and that gets under their skin.”
Zegras said Saturday he regretted spearing Benning and was hoping he’d get a chance to talk to him before or during the game. Asked if he’s been booed in other NHL arenas, Zegras said, “usually just in the shootout.”
“It’s good. It shows that they’re passionate,” Zegras said. “It’s a great rivalry between the Ducks and the Sharks.”
Zegras figures to be a big part of it for a long time.
Perry, for years, was enemy No. 1 in San Jose, as he has 52 points and 94 penalty minutes – his second-highest totals against any team – in 73 career regular-season games against the Sharks.
Zegras isn’t a fighter and is less of an instigator, but has a big personality to go with a tremendous skill set. He had 10 points in 11 games before Saturday, including an assist in Anaheim’s 6-5 shootout win over the Sharks on Tuesday. He also had a nifty shootout goal against goalie Kaapo Kahkonen.
Zegras wore a microphone for ESPN’s broadcast Tuesday and told reporters afterward that he was talking plenty of trash.
“I was very angry today,” Zegras said. “Hopefully they didn’t catch all the anger stuff. Things were not going our way on the power play and I was just chirping everybody. I’ve got good teammates to calm me down.”
Zegras has become a lightning rod of sorts, as his swagger can be construed as cockiness.
Last season when he worked as an analyst for ESPN, John Tortorella debated whether a Zegras over-the-net pass to then-teammate Sonny Milano, dubbed the ‘Pass Streamed Around the World,’ was a “hockey play,” although Tortorella said later it wasn’t meant to be a shot at Zegras.
Benning and the Sharks didn’t necessarily appreciate Zegras’ constant chatter on Tuesday. But per Zegras’ coach, that’s just part of his personality.
“He may be one of the most misunderstood players in our league,” Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said Saturday of Zegras. “He’s so competitive. He truly loves hockey. I mean, he loves it. So that smile on his face is not an arrogant one, it’s a fun one. Those things that he can do with the puck isn’t about being a hot shot, it’s, he can do that with the puck.
“The plays that he makes, he’s not looking to go on a highlight reel. He’s looking to score and when you have a player like that, a lot of the old souls in our game, the guys that we love, too, they look at him and go, ‘that arrogant little s—, take that stuff and shove it.’ But that’s the new generation player.”
Eakins said he’d rather have a player he needs to pull back once in a while than one that always needs to be fired up.
“We are certainly not going to take that kid’s personality away,” Eakins said. “He’s probably the most verbal player I’ve ever coached. He’s a talker. A lot of that is him just settling himself back down, but it’s so misunderstood in this league, from building to building, with other teams.
“I get it, but those other teams and those players and coaches, they don’t know him how we know him.”
Quinn has known Zegras for several years, having recruited him to Boston University last decade. Zegras committed to Quinn and the Terriers in July 2016, but right before his freshman season in 2018, Quinn was hired by the New York Rangers.
Quinn had good things to say about Zegras on Saturday. Still, Quinn relayed a story about a longtime friend, a college baseball coach in Texas who grew up in Massachusetts, once asking him why hockey players “were the best guys.”
“I said, ‘Well, maybe there’s something to the fact that if you’re a phony, or you’re an ass, you get punched in the face,’” Quinn said. “So there’s an accountability level in our sport that is unlike any other.”
Originally published at Curtis Pashelka