Trevor Zegras reportedly not happy with head coach Dallas Eakins, won't play tonight
Anaheim Ducks rookie forward Trevor Zegras returned to practice on Thursday morning after being placed in the NHL's COVID-19 protcol on December 28th.
Despite his return to practice, Zegras won't play on Thursday night against the Detroit Red Wings. It's unclear why he won't be in the lineup, but head coach Dallas Eakins gave an odd answer, saying that the star rookie is mad at him right now.
"Z not very happy with me right now. Zegras will not play tonight. He'll practice tomorrow and be ready for the next one," Eakins said.
Update: since this story was written, the game between the Ducks and Red Wings has been postponed
It's likely that they want Zegras to have another practice under his belt given the fact he hasn't played since December 17th against the Arizona Coyotes. The Ducks and every team in the NHL had an extended holiday break, then Zegras missed the last four games because he was in the league's protocol. But it's still pretty odd that Dallas Eakins would tell the media that Zegras is mad at him.
The Ducks will also be without John Gibson on Thursday night after he was pulled from practice due to a positive COVID-19 test. Although after practice, Eakins told reporters that the plan was to have Anthony Stolarz start agianst Detroit anyways. Eakins didn't mention who would back up Stolarz.
HCDE: "Z not very happy with me right now. ... Zegras will not play tonight. He'll practice tomorrow and be ready for the next one."— Elliott Teaford (@ElliottTeaford) January 6, 2022
If I heard Dallas correctly, he said Stolarz was penciled in to start tonight anyway.— Elliott Teaford (@ElliottTeaford) January 6, 2022
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Mikko Rantanen | 1 | 3 | 4 | |
| Jake Debrusk | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Dylan Guenther | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Connor McDavid | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Ivan Barbashev | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Jack Eichel | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Brock Nelson | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Valeri Nichushkin | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Clayton Keller | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Anthony Cirelli | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Jonathan Drouin | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Roman Josi | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Kirill Marchenko | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Kyle Palmieri | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Artemi Panarin | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Sebastian Aho | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Evan Bouchard | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Rasmus Dahlin | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Leon Draisaitl | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Matt Duchene | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 21 | 17 | 4 | - | 34 | |
Wild | 20 | 13 | 3 | 4 | 30 | |
Devils | 23 | 14 | 7 | 2 | 30 | |
Hurricanes | 20 | 14 | 5 | 1 | 29 | |
Golden Knights | 21 | 13 | 6 | 2 | 28 | |
Capitals | 20 | 13 | 6 | 1 | 27 | |
Flames | 21 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 27 | |
Stars | 19 | 13 | 6 | - | 26 | |
Maple Leafs | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Rangers | 19 | 12 | 6 | 1 | 25 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||