Hyman contributing to the Oilers’ season’s survival
In the summer of 2021, Zach Hyman signed a seven-year, $38-million contract with the Edmonton Oilers, raising eyebrows.
It wasn’t primarily due to Hyman’s unique skill. For years, Hyman had been the Toronto Maple Leafs’ tenacious, dependable, and potent two-way forward par excellence. The Oilers saw significant improvement in their top two lines just from that, and more significantly, the depth of talent at the forward position was expanded in a lineup that had previously relied perhaps too much on the abilities of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
Though even in his best moments with the Maple Leafs, the 29-year-old winger was neither a premier goal scorer nor a high-end playmaker, so those eyebrows did raise when he signed a long-term contract.
These contracts typically don’t age well, if only because we may have already surpassed the best that Hyman could offer at the NHL level, in addition to the inherent injury risk and age-driven performance declines you start to see in this age range.
Let’s go back to this season. Hyman has a case to be on the short list of contenders for Most Valuable Player. And the Oilers will be grateful to Hyman for keeping the team alive when they needed him most if they can somehow bounce back from a terrifying first six weeks of the season and make it back to the postseason.
That’s not hyperbole at all. Think about these two things: Hyman is starting the regular season with career-best individual production for the Oilers, and when he jumps over the boards, he is also blowing teams off the ice.
Hyman’s 15 goals this season rank among the top 10 in the league, ranking him among Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby and Vancouver’s J.T. Miller.
When Hyman is used, the Oilers routinely have the advantage because he converts on a high percentage of his scoring opportunities. Hyman is a career 13% shooter who is already above 17% this season.
Since McDavid has played with Hyman for the majority of his even strength minutes, it is reasonable to say that Hyman has profited from playing with top talent. They have outscored opponents 18 to 9, demonstrating the kind of dominance we have become accustomed to from Edmonton’s starting lineup.
However, I find it impressive how well Hyman has performed in every situation. When paired with McDavid, 97’s playmaking is routinely converted, winning pucks along the boards and wreaking havoc in front of the net. Even so, Hyman’s lines still triumph without McDavid. That’s a major boost for the Oilers, who have occasionally found it difficult to play at a high level when McDavid isn’t playing:
Even during the first few months of the season, goals can fluctuate greatly. You might wonder why the Oilers are losing and turn your gaze away from Hyman to observe McDavid. The truth is that goalie performance can significantly affect this kind of analysis in both directions.
However, when we discuss production, we are discussing outcomes. Despite the awful goaltending the team has had since the beginning of the season, Hyman’s lines continue to produce wins, which is why the Oilers are once again in the running for the playoffs.
Because Hyman’s lines spend a lot of time in the offensive zone and produce a lot of shots from the riskiest parts of the ice, they have been able to counteract that goaltending issue.
Writing a fluid essay about an Oilers attacker leading his team instead of the outstanding combination of McDavid and Draisaitl is quite refreshing. It is evidence of Hyman’s effectiveness. We’re not witnessing a player whose attacking prowess or agility is declining with age. Instead, we are witnessing a seasoned forward consistently make his way into the most scoring-rich regions of the ice, and this season, his finishing percentage is significantly higher than normal.
Hyman might have some luck involved, but this is also the reason you should back players who can generate their own offense (as I always stress, there are numerous ways to do this).
Hyman’s offensive awareness and hockey sense consistently place him in situations where scoring opportunities can arise. The more opportunities you get in a high-volume game like hockey, like the one he’s currently on, the more opportunities you have to go on a scoring binge.
