Quoting: NYRxLundqvist
Let's compare toi and the positions in with these three players are playing.
Kakko toi for his career is 13:33 averaging 3rd line.
Zegras toi 14:43 averaging 1st line
Laf toi 13:58 averaging 2nd line
This is why fans like you don't know anything because all you care about is points and if you'd like to give me any defensive stats I bet kakko and laf smoke zegras in it.
All situations pts/60:
Kakko: 1.3 this year, 1.9 last year
Zegras: 1.2 this year, 2.6 last year
Laf: 2.1 this year, 1.9 last year
xGF-xGA
Kakko: -1.0 this year, +2.9 last year, ~56% offensive zone starts -> Hockeyreference doesn't count neutral zone starts in their zone start metrics, only offensive vs. defensive zone starts on a faceoff)
Zegras: -0.4 this year, -17.5 last, ~70% offensive zone starts
Laf: +10.8 this year, -1.5 last, ~70% offensive zone starts
But xGF-xGA doesn't really account for performance relative to the team, so, xGF% (and xGF% relative), per Moneypuck:
Kakko: 50.5% this year (-0.1% relative), 52.5% last (1.9% relative)
Zegras: 57.6% this year (18.5% relative), 48.5% last (13.0% relative)
Laf: 53.1% this year (3.7% relative), 53.9% last (3.6% relative)
Zegras' year this year is obviously a very small sample size, so what it tells me is he's producing at a higher pace typically (adjusting for ice time) and is a stronger play driver playing high-event hockey on a very bad team. Kakko and Laf are fine, but they're just good NHLers right now propped up even more by incredibly strong team play. There aren't a lot of great defensive stats (hits, FO%, giveaways vs. takeaways are all mostly useless IMO), but xGF% does tell us who's getting a higher share of good chances when they're on the ice: them or the other team.
I don't know if Zegras is worth that package, and Kakko plays the strongest defensive game of the bunch which is valuable, but saying he's an average top-6 player with fancy moves when he's very clearly an excellent play driver and finisher/playmaker is just...interesting.