The Flyers came out for warmups tonight rocking the Trevor Zegras tuck, one game after the forward was penalized for it.
Spittin' Chiclets flagged it with a simple caption: "That's how you back your guy."
Zegras got called for the tuck last game. His teammates answered the only way hockey players know how, by doing it too.
They have every reason to stand behind him. Zegras put up a career-high 67 points in 81 games last season.
His 26 goals were a career best as well.
The Flyers paid him for it. His cap hit jumps from $5,750,000 to $9,125,000 this season.
So is a jersey tuck really worth a penalty?
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The officials apparently think so. His teammates made their own opinion pretty clear before puck drop tonight.
This is exactly the right response. Calling a jersey tuck in September makes the league look like it's policing personality instead of hockey.
It's like a teacher sending one kid to the office over how he wears his shirt, then watching the whole class show up the next morning dressed exactly the same way.
The jump in pay is $3,375,000 for a player who turned his first season in orange into a career year.
The new deal runs through 2029-30, which makes him a big part of this group's plans for a while.
The Ducks drafted him ninth overall in 2019 before he landed in Philadelphia. His best year in Anaheim was a 65-point season in 2022-23.
Career-wise, he's up to 253 points in 349 NHL games.
He also added six points in 10 playoff games last spring, his first taste of the NHL postseason.
Rick Tocchet's group came into tonight at 1-2-0 this preseason after blanking Boston 2-0 on Thursday.
The Flyers open the regular season Wednesday at home against Pittsburgh, then visit New Jersey the next night.
The officials made their point. The Flyers made theirs louder, and now everyone's watching to see whether the next referee raises his arm again.
Should the NHL stop penalizing Trevor Zegras for his jersey tuck?
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