Toronto Maple Leafs First Line
Hyman-Tavares-Marner
Barring anything that extends Hyman’s six-month recovery period from ACL surgery, you should look to see this line back together come October.
Six months from the surgery date puts Hyman returning around the end of October, so it’s up in the air who may be put with Tavares and Marner until his return date. This line was highly effective last year, and it will look to be the same next year. However, this is just a probable line, not a certain one.
This line is dependent on both the recovery of Zach Hyman and the signing of Mitch Marner.
Now, both Marner and his agent alike refrained from contract talks with Kyle Dubas and the Toronto Maple Leafs until the season was over, and now that it is, it seems the contract talks will soon be in full swing, though it’s unknown when the pen will actually be put to paper.
The other big question comes in the name of Zach Hyman. Zach Hyman scored 41 points this year, compared to the 94 and 88 point season Marner and Tavares had respectfully. Hyman is a great hockey player, there’s no doubt about that. But, the question everyone should think about this summer is if Hyman is truly a top six player.
In the case of the top six players who were iced this past season, Hyman scored the lowest point total of the six. Now, injury and other factors may have played a part in how the points turned out, but still the totals don’t lie.
Is Hyman truly a top-six player? Or will his ACL injury mean that he comes back as a portion of the player he was?