“With Z’s personality, he needs somebody, number one, that he knows that they care about him,” Eakins said. “He 100% knows that that person really cares for him.
“There’s going to be some harder days, where you need to explain things. And there’s going to be days where you really want to encourage the improvement he’s had.
“So, you need a coach with that mindset. And I think a coach, for Z, that is just an absolute hard-ass, my way or the highway, it doesn’t work. At least in my opinion. And the way Rick coaches, and I think the way Rick communicates, is he’s always going to be finding another way.”
Zegras reinforced this sentiment. He said that Tocchet — whom he affectionately nicknamed “Taco” — never tried to change him. There was no attempt to turn him into a third-line checking center, or a player who dumps the puck the second he gains the red line.
He just tried to work with him.
“He’s a hard coach, in terms of what he expects out of you, but he’s very fair,” said Zegras, who was moved back to center in March. “And from the aspect of trying to play with creativity, and coming to a new team, and a new situation, he definitely let me do my thing a little bit at the beginning of the season.
“He set pretty high standards for me and the whole team. But that freedom and creativity to still play hockey is something that I’ve really enjoyed.”
Some wanted to change Trevor Zegras. The Flyers let ‘Z be Z.’ Now, he’s got his ‘swagger back’, Alex Coffey
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