So when are people gonna start talking about Zach Hyman?

[BraveCanadian]

Because he was injured and unproductive and not playing with Connor McDavid while on the leafs?

 

[LeafGrief]

There is not a single person on this forum who thought that Zach Hyman would achieve the heights that he has. Massive, massive respect to the man who has improved every year throughout his career in a way that no other player I have ever seen. Playing with McDavid helps his numbers, but anyone with eyeballs can also tell you that he's not the same player he was when he wore the Leaf, much like how he improved dramatically even while he was a Leaf.

We pay too much money to our core stars and that has caused us to hemorrhage quality depth over the years. Hyman was a useful, but not indispensable piece who struggled to produce in the playoffs, had an injury history with two bad ones in his final years as a Leaf, and ultimately signed a contract that will pay him until he's 36 years old. He had 33 points (43 games) his last year with us and 1p in 7 games his final playoff run. Plenty of us wanted to keep him, but I think that most of us saw that contract and said, "woof, glad it wasn't us."

Well, we were right to be glad about Campbell, wrong to be glad about Hyman. As above, tip your hats to the player who has shattered all expectations and raised his game to a new stratosphere. Zach Hyman is a 50 goal scorer!

 

[WarriorofTime]

Dubas and his mouthpieces/fanbase developed a post-hoc justification for the ridiculously forward top-loaded roster construction that "you don't overpay the middle class of the NHL". It doesn't really make any sense, but presumably sounds good if you don't actually think about what they're saying until you realize it leaves you with a few really highly paid players and then bargain bin shopping or signing 40 year old guys from Toronto at the end of their careers for your depth/complementary players.

 

[Breakers]

My favorite part about the Hyman signing is Dubas acting all high and mighty about trading his rights.

Edmonton was giving you FREE draft picks, and Dubas was like I'm not gonna help out another team that isnt even in my conference.

If they were in the division, or conference maybe i could understand that thinking.
(Like Calgary trading rights to Edmonton)

Otherwise it straight idiotic to suddenly develop a backbone and maintain a hard bargain, while otherwise caving to every contract demand that you signed.

 

[Oilslick941611]

Zach Hyman has 14 goals and is by far the leading goal scorer in the Stanley Cup. He makes $5.5M per year, a complete bargain that the Leafs didn't want to pay. Unfathomable that the Leafs couldn't pay him that pittance of a salary.

How did the Leafs mismanage the Hyman situation so badly?? I know the guy that made the blunder to let him walk was let go, but my God what a team the Leafs could of had if they kept Hyman and other talented guys they just let go or traded. To make matters worse Hyman is a total beast defensively and is playing more like a $10M+ player. Just shocking mismanagement.

Discuss.

I don’t know, But thank you to Dubas for being stubborn and letting him walk.

Hindsight is 20/20. I am not a big Dubas fan but he was hardly a playoff performer with the Leafs and the risk with him was not so much the cap hit, but the term. The prevailing thinking at the time was that Hyman's play style and recent injuries would make him a highly overpaid player.

When you overpay your stars -- you lose the flexibility to take such risks. It's unfortunate.

Hyman loved being a Leaf, and he and his family were from Toronto. He tried to make it work.

Yeah. Dubas paid the wrong guys. Marner and Matthew aren’t playoff performers either.

 

[ManofSteel55]

This feels like a blatant "Anti-Leafs" post, and while I like those sometimes, this one isn't really a fair one.

1. They had a lot of higher skilled forwards under contract and were close to capped out. At the time, I don't know if anyone, on HF or outside of HF, would have selected to keep Hyman over Marner or Nylander. Matthews is the centrepiece there, and Tavares was never going to be moved at that time due to his contract - not that the Leafs were interested in moving him yet.

2. He was a free agent and many thought the contract he was given was a gamble. The Leafs obviously didn't feel they could gamble on a guy who was important to them, but not one of their main core guys.

Basically, Hyman's success came out of nowhere. He was a good NHL'er, but nobody predicted he would score over 50 even while playing with McDavid, or that he could be on pace to get close to 20 in a single playoff run after 3 rounds of the playoffs. In Edmonton, we hoped he could be a 30-35 goal scorer as a grinding net front presense beside McDavid. He has exceeded that.

 

[HockeyVirus]

My favorite part about the Hyman signing is Dubas acting all high and mighty about trading his rights.

Edmonton was giving you FREE draft picks, and Dubas was like I'm not gonna help out another team that isnt even in my conference.

If they were in the division, or conference maybe i could understand that thinking.
(Like Calgary trading rights to Edmonton)

Otherwise it straight idiotic to suddenly develop a backbone and maintain a hard bargain, while otherwise caving to every contract demand that you signed.

That wasn't what happened. There was an established price to do that and the Oilers wanted to send a lower pick. Dubas was basically like it is worth more to not cave in a negotiation when I know the fair price and lose out on a late round pick than cave and look weak.

The obviously correct answer regardless of what you think of his abilities as the GM.

 

[Dr Pepper]

 

[JianYang]

There is not a single person on this forum who thought that Zach Hyman would achieve the heights that he has. Massive, massive respect to the man who has improved every year throughout his career in a way that no other player I have ever seen. Playing with McDavid helps his numbers, but anyone with eyeballs can also tell you that he's not the same player he was when he wore the Leaf, much like how he improved dramatically even while he was a Leaf.

We pay too much money to our core stars and that has caused us to hemorrhage quality depth over the years. Hyman was a useful, but not indispensable piece who struggled to produce in the playoffs, had an injury history with two bad ones in his final years as a Leaf, and ultimately signed a contract that will pay him until he's 36 years old. He had 33 points (43 games) his last year with us and 1p in 7 games his final playoff run. Plenty of us wanted to keep him, but I think that most of us saw that contract and said, "woof, glad it wasn't us."

Well, we were right to be glad about Campbell, wrong to be glad about Hyman. As above, tip your hats to the player who has shattered all expectations and raised his game to a new stratosphere. Zach Hyman is a 50 goal scorer!

Oh yeah, there will be a day where the fans will likely turn on hyman because his style will likely catch up to him sooner than later.

But that's just the cost of doing business on July 1st. For now, nobody cares what that contract will look like on the back end, and I'm not even blaming the leafs for not matching it. However, it shows the importance of just having all the right peices at the right time before they get too expensive, and hyman did bring something different to that mix.... something I think they are still struggling to find.

 

[Dr Pepper]

Zach Hyman has 14 goals and is by far the leading goal scorer in the Stanley Cup. He makes $5.5M per year, a complete bargain that the Leafs didn't want to pay. Unfathomable that the Leafs couldn't pay him that pittance of a salary.

How did the Leafs mismanage the Hyman situation so badly?? I know the guy that made the blunder to let him walk was let go, but my God what a team the Leafs could of had if they kept Hyman and other talented guys they just let go or traded. To make matters worse Hyman is a total beast defensively and is playing more like a $10M+ player. Just shocking mismanagement.

Discuss.

They're going to look back at that Tavares signing as where it all went wrong, I think. Could've done so much more without him.

 

[GoldenKnight]

Kyle Dubas has made some questionable calls over the years.

 

[HanSolo]

Kyle Dubas has made some questionable calls over the years.

Objectively, this isn't one of them.

 

[WarriorofTime]

That wasn't what happened. There was an established price to do that and the Oilers wanted to send a lower pick. Dubas was basically like it is worth more to not cave in a negotiation when I know the fair price and lose out on a late round pick than cave and look weak.

The obviously correct answer regardless of what you think of his abilities as the GM.

After Matthews stole his lunch money, gave him a noogie and shoved him in a locker during RFA negotiations (with ZERO arbitration rights), I don't think Dubas had to worry much about anyone thinking he looked weak.

 

[Breakers]

That wasn't what happened. There was an established price to do that and the Oilers wanted to send a lower pick. Dubas was basically like it is worth more to not cave in a negotiation when I know the fair price and lose out on a late round pick than cave and look weak.

The obviously correct answer regardless of what you think of his abilities as the GM.

LOL
He looked weak in negotiations well before this

he wasn't fooling anybody.

 

[Fatass]

Hindsight is 20/20. I am not a big Dubas fan but he was hardly a playoff performer with the Leafs and the risk with him was not so much the cap hit, but the term. The prevailing thinking at the time was that Hyman's play style and recent injuries would make him a highly overpaid player.

When you overpay your stars -- you lose the flexibility to take such risks. It's unfortunate.

Hyman loved being a Leaf, and he and his family were from Toronto. He tried to make it work.

Hyman and Kadri. Two heart and soul guys who played for the Leaf on their crest and not just to cash a cheque and hope to be 100% healthy for golf season.

 

[Juxta Position]

Because they thought Bunting could replace Hyman at a fraction of the cost, the only problem with that is Bunting sucks.

 

[Craft Beer Lover]

Next question

There is a very simple explanation as to the stark difference in Hyman’s production for the two teams. Look at the centers with whom he played with for these two teams:

•Matthews, a mediocre passer and playmaker, not even the best on his own team, who relies on his wingers to get HIM the puck and not vice versa.

•McDavid, one of the four greatest playmakers in the history of the sport, whose vision and passing brilliance makes EVERYONE around him better.

Using these facts, its not really hard to see why Hyman is succeeding on the Oilers as opposed to the Leafs.

 

[Torontonian]

Hyman fits perfectly on McDavid wing. Hindsight is always 20/20, but a majority of fans were against giving Hyman a 8 year contract at that price tag. Hyman had never performed like how he's performing in Edmonton ever when playing for Toronto.

Matthews wants the puck, your job is get to him, while McDavid likes to distribute it, and Hyman just needs to tap it in or get the odd wrist shot goal.

 

[Commander Clueless]

Leafs wanted Hyman to stay. He's a great player and was loved by the org....but at the time for his level production, 5.5 was asking a lot on a cap strapped team.

Obviously in hindsight they should have kept him. Even if you argue he wouldn't reach the heights he has without McDavid, he's obviously evolved from his Leaf days.

Probably the ex-Leaf I miss the most.

 

[Leaf Fans]

He signed as a Free Agent.

 

[Killer Orcas]

Well in Leaf's defense who exactly would pass the puck for Hyman to score all these goals? He has been put in perfect situation for himself on Edmonton and kudos for Oilers for realizing that.

 

[Golden_Jet]

They couldn’t afford Hyman or Kadri after paying all their stars.

 

[AvroArrow]

His name is Kyle Dubas

Nuff said

 

[Realgud]

The Dubas flow charts deemed him expendable

 

[Oscar The Grouch]

Who knew he'd become a better player than Matthews.