the Matthews lines struggles right now have precisely nothing to do with lack of Zach Hyman on their wing. Hyman was a good player, good solider for the leafs but give it a f***ing rest already. His actual impact on the Matthews/Marner pairing and this this misguided notion he enabled their success as a line is easily disproven by the time they played without him. He contributed sure, but Matthews and marner didn’t need him then to be successful, and they surely don’t now. They just need to play better individually.
Also it’s pretty laughable to say hyman never got the appreciation he deserved. In the early seasons sure, but if anything his last couple years he became kind of overrated more than anything. Still a good player, team mate, and by all accounts person, and versatile sure, but he also had significant limitations in his game that people just pretended like weren’t there. He was idolized for hard work of which there is little unique about him, just that Toronto fans and media has grown tired of half assed efforts of many, though not all. others here.
