The Trevor Zegras move could be coming to the EA Sports’ NHL video game franchise.
According to a report by ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski, EA Sports is considering adding “The Zegras” to NHL 23. This is a move where a player behind the net flips the puck to a teammate in front.
Zegras made the move famous when he set up Sonny Milano from behind the net with a flip pass against the Buffalo Sabres. Milano showed great hand-eye coordination to bat the puck into the net.
In the report by Wyshynski, he spoke with EA Sports NHL producer Sean Ramjagsingh. Ramjagsingh states that discussions are already underway about putting “the Zegras” move in NHL 23.
There is currently no official way to score with “the Zegras” move in NHL 22, the latest installment of the franchise. The only one to pull it off is by tricking the game mechanics to score.
History suggests it won’t be long before we see the Zegras in EA Sports NHL. The game producers have done a great job adding new moves to the franchise in the past. After Carolina’s Andrei Svechnikov scored the first NHL “Michigan” goal in the 2019-20 season, EA added the move to NHL 21.
EA Sports also put Nikita Kucherov’s “no move” deke in NHL 21 after the Lightning forward successfully executed the move multiple times. Once a move is being attempted regularly in the NHL, EA Sports is inclined to incorporate it into their game.
Here’s what Ramjagsingh told Wyshynski regarding the decision to add “the Michigan” to EA Sports NHL.
“If we had put that into our game five years ago, we probably would have heard from our players that it was ‘arcadey’ and not realistic. “But now with the skill of these kids, they’re trying all these skills in real game situations. We’re less hesitant now because it’s part of the sport. Players see it as a legit way of scoring a goal. It’s become a feasible move in the world of hockey.”
It’s very hard to score with the Michigan in NHL 21 and NHL 22. It makes sense considering only three NHL players have only successfully scored with the move in real-life. EA Sports states scoring with “the Zegras” would have a similar level of difficulty.
Perhaps we should lower our excitement for “the Zegras” move in EA NHL considering how hard “the Michigan” is to pull off. The lacrosse goal is so difficult to execute that most players in EA NHL online play rarely even attempt it.
Zegras and Milano are the only two NHL players to successfully execute the behind the net lob pass, but others have tried. If “the Zegras” becomes more prevalent in the NHL, hopefully EA Sports will make the move somewhat easy to execute in NHL 23.