Toronto Maple Leafs: Dealing with the Zach Hyman Injury

The Toronto Maple Leafs will be without one of their key forwards for the next three weeks.

So far this season, the Toronto Maple Leafs have been able to play well while not at full strength. There have been stretches where the team was without the services of the likes of Auston Matthews and William Nylander (contract dispute) and the team did just fine.

The Leafs will have to deal with being shorthanded for an extended once again as another valuable found himself on injured reserve recently.

Prior to Thursday’s game against the Florida Panthers, the team announced that Zach Hyman would miss the game because of an ankle injury. After beating the Panthers 6-1, the Leafs revealed just how long he would be gone.

Here’s the breakdown as per Leafs PR:

Bad Break for the Toronto Maple Leafs

On the surface, this seems like a tough loss for the team as Hyman does provide some value at the forward position. He has overall been a positive contributor to the team at both ends of the ice, especially in his ability to hunt down loose pucks.

This isn’t, however, the first time Hyman has been out of the Leafs lineup. Just last week, he was suspended for 2 games because of his late hit on Charlie McAvoy.

Fortunately, the Leafs do have some options when it comes to filling in for Hyman.

From the Leafs roster

The first and most simple option is that the Toronto Maple Leafs can stick with the forwards they currently have on the main roster already and shuffle the lines in that manner.

They did so during Thursday’s game so it makes sense to continue that. Here is how the forward lines looked like during the said matchup:

This lineup seems like it could be an effective short-term option for the Leafs for a few reasons. Prior to the game, Connor Brown was Andreas Johnsson’s spot, but I think having the latter there is effective as a third scoring option for an already deadly duo in John Tavares and Mitch Marner.

Not only are Johnsson’s numbers across the board are better than Brown’s, but he also has a much higher ceiling with the potential to become a lethal weapon on the top six. Based on the chemistry shown early the game, I think Johnsson would be a good fit on the Tavares line.

While having Frederik Gauthier draw back into the lineup is not ideal, the numbers suggest that he has done fairly well in a limited role. As a short-term stopgap option while Hyman recovers, keeping Gauthier on the 4th line is not the worst thing the Leafs can do.

Call-up a Marlie

Alternatively, the Toronto Maple Leafs can look to their farm system and bring up one of their best players available to add some insurance to the roster.

The reason for pursuing this option seems obvious since another Leaf forward getting hurt within the coming three weeks would mean the team is short a forward. So the natural reaction would be to bring up someone from the farm team.

Perhaps the easiest option, in this case, would be to bring up Trevor Moore. Given that he has been producing well, is the Marlie that can best adapt to the NHL right now, and has already been recalled by the team twice before, Moore seems highly likely to be getting the call.

Two alternative options the Leafs could look to is Mason Marchement or Carl Grundstrum. They’re both young forwards who could benefit from getting some early exposure into the NHL system and lifestyle. Plus, if Mike Babcock decides to sit said forward in the press-box then it would help them gain some experience that way.

The thing to keep in mind is that both forwards are much younger than Moore and each are still developing their game. This isn’t to say neither will get the call at all, but the chances either get called up is much lower.

Plus, there is a chance that the Leafs don’t even call up a forward at all and decide to go 11 forwards and 7 defensemen in this scenario. Given that the team already have Martin Marincin and Justin Hull on the roster already and barely getting action, this would make the decision easier.

In short, the Toronto Maple Leafs have plenty of options to deal with while Hyman sits out with an injury. The choice to either shuffle the lineup as is or to call up a forward just in case are both easy to do and with minimal risk.

Regardless of which direction the Leafs go with this, you can guarantee the team will go on just fine while dealing with being shorthanded once again.

Thanks for reading!

All stats linked unless otherwise noted are from Natural Stat Trick.