Zach Hyman has a chance to do something truly profound against the Leafs on Hockey Night in Canada
When Zach Hyman signed his 7-year deal worth $5.5M per season with the Edmonton Oilers in the summer of 2021, I don't think anyone was banking on him becoming a 50-goal scorer within 3 seasons, even if he did draw the assignment of playing alongside Connor McDavid. However, not only is 50 goals in the cards for Hyman this season, there's actually a strong probability that he does it.
Hyman has racked up an incredible 48 goals in 66 appearances so far this season, and with the Oilers having 15 games remaining and Connor McDavid feeding him the puck, barring an injury, you can safely put your money on Hyman getting there. What's more? He has a chance to do it against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.
Hyman spoke with the media on Thursday, following his team's lopsided 8-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres - a game in which Hyman scored 2 goals. He was asked about the potential of scoring that big #50 against his former team tomorrow night. Here's what he had to say:
Hyman wanting to win over a groundbreaking personal accomplishment is peak Hyman. It's one of the reasons why so many Leaf fans were sad to see him go and upset that Kyle Dubas didn't pony up the dough to keep him in Toronto long-term. Despite the Leafs' lack of playoff success while he was there, Hyman is a player that you can win with. He does all of the little things right and he plays hard from whistle to whistle.
Scoring #50 against the Leafs would certainly be something truly special for Hyman, even if he's playing it down. The Leafs were the team with whom he received his NHL start, after Kyle Dubas acquired the hometown kid from the Florida Panthers way back in 2015. Hyman played his heart out for 6 seasons in Toronto, and while he didn't hit his stride offensively until arriving in Edmonton in 2021-22, he was a fixture in the top-6 for the Leafs and played the role of puck retrieval expert and forechecker extraordinaire to a T.
Hyman still has a lot of fans in Toronto, and even though none of them are rooting for the Oilers to beat the Leafs, you can't deny that it would be cool to see Hyman score goals number 49 and 50 against the Leafs on Hockey Night in Canada. It would make for one hell of a story.
| POLL | ||
MARS 23 | 389 ANSWERS Zach Hyman has a chance to do something truly profound against the Leafs on Hockey Night in Canada Will Zach Hyman ever score 50 goals in a season again? | ||
| No, not a chance | 125 | 32.1 % |
| Yes, anything is possible playing with McDavid | 215 | 55.3 % |
| I really don't know. I'm on the fence | 49 | 12.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
