Ducks prospect Trevor Zegras set gold standard at World Junior

Trevor Zegras’ swagger was impossible to miss Tuesday in Edmonton. He stood for a TV interview with an American flag draped over his shoulders. He wore a World Junior Championship gold medal around his neck. He smiled broadly while answering a round of questions.

What does this mean for you?

“It’s the greatest day of my life,” he said. “It’s the greatest day of my life.”

Then he laughed.

He had called his shot.

Zegras, the first of the Ducks’ two first-round draft picks in 2019, scored one goal and set up another in the United States’ 2-0 victory over Canada. He said beforehand he didn’t believe the favored Canadians had been tested in the tournament and he vowed they would be Tuesday.

He was right, too. They were tested and he led the charge from start to finish for the U.S.

Zegras, a 19-year-old from Bedford, New York, scored a tournament-leading 18 points, including seven goals, and was named the tournament’s most valuable player. He is the fifth American to win the award and the second Ducks prospect to take the prize following goaltender John Gibson in 2013.

Overall, in two World Juniors appearances, Zegras tied the U.S. record for career points with 27, including a record-tying 20 assists, in 12 games. Jordan Schroeder had set the mark in 19 games over three World Juniors appearances from 2008 to 2010.

“It’s always amazing to me the way certain players, and it can’t be an accident, but the puck just seems to follow them around the ice,” Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said of the way Zegras seemed to control the play with such flair. “It can’t be an accident.”

The Americans’ victory was by no means a one-man show. Zegras had plenty of assistance, including from his linemates, center Alex Turcotte and right wing Arthur Kaliyev, two Kings prospects who go from beloved teammates to bitter rivals now that the tournament is over.

Zegras was joined in the U.S. lineup by fellow Ducks prospects defensemen Jackson LaCombe and Henry Thrun and forward Sam Colangelo. LaCombe will return to the University of Minnesota, Thrun to his team in the junior-level USHL and Colangelo will go back to Northeastern.

Adding to the Orange County flavor of the U.S. team were captain Cam York, a Philadelphia Flyers prospect from Anaheim Hills, and fellow defenseman Ryan Johnson, an Irvine native who is the son of former NHL player Craig Johnson. Johnson was a first-round pick of the Buffalo Sabres in 2019.

There were other Southern California connections, too.

Brendan Brisson of Manhattan Beach, a Vegas Golden Knights prospect and the son of prominent NHL agent Pat Brisson, and Kings prospect Brock Faber also played for the U.S. Brisson plays at the University of Michigan and Faber is at Minnesota.

The Americans were opposed in the championship game by defenseman Jamie Drysdale, the first of two Ducks’ first-round picks in 2020, and Kings prospects Quinton Byfield, drafted second overall last year, and Jordan Spence, selected in the fourth round in 2019, who did not play Tuesday.

Zegras, a center who shifted to left wing for the tournament, stood out among the rest, though.

“It’s basically the Stanley Cup for that age group, so you’re pretty much on cloud nine,” Gibson said. “Hopefully, for a guy like him, you just kind of keep rolling with it. He had a great tournament, gets the MVP, has a lot of confidence in his game and, hopefully, when he gets here he can just keep rolling and keep building and keep getting better.”

Zegras and Drysdale are expected to join the Ducks within the next few days, after general manager Bob Murray and Kings counterpart Rob Blake arranged for a chartered airplane to bring their prospects from the World Juniors bubble into the semi-bubble of the NHL teams’ training camps.

Two Ducks and four Kings (Byfield, Kaliyev, Turcotte and Sweden’s Tobias Bjornfot) were expected to fly on the charter and avoid a possible weeklong quarantine before joining their teams. This way they can participate in several days of camp before the regular season begins next week.

“Man, we’re so proud of that kid,” Eakins said of Zegras, who played one season at Boston University before signing a three-year, $5.325-million contract March 27. “I probably had a hundred texts about him after the game (Tuesday) night. But that doesn’t mean he’s just going to walk into an NHL camp and light it up. He may, but the next challenge is to win a roster spot.

“I know he’s up for it. He’s hungry to play in this league.”

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