Toronto Maple Leafs: Zach Hyman One of NHL’s Most Underrated Players

The Toronto Maple Leafs Zach Hyman is one of the NHL’s most underrated players.

Ever since his rookie year with the Toronto Maple Leafs Hyman has proven he belongs on an NHL team and is a great top 6 player.

Zach Hyman,who is turning 28 years old in June, has only played in three full seasons in the NHL and with this year’s season it makes it his fourth.

When you hear about the Toronto Maple Leafs rookies from the 2016-17 roster you may think Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and hey even Connor Brown, but Zach Hyman was one of the countless rookies on that team that made his full season debut.

From 2016-17 season until now, Hyman has just kept on improving his game and in my eyes has been a very important key piece to Toronto’s success and even might be one of the NHL’s underrated players today.

Hyman’s Career Stats

Like I said Zach Hyman has only played in three full seasons before this current season, making him only playing in just under 300 NHL career games.

In those three seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs he has improved his numbers every year.

2016-17 season  82 GP ~ 8G  10A  18PTS

2017-18 season  82 GP ~ 15G  25A  40PTS

2018-19 season  71 GP ~ 21G  20A  41PTS

2019-20 season  39 GP ~ 17G  14A  31 PTS (missed 19 games)

Hyman has played alongside some of the leagues most talented players over his years in the blue and white like Matthews, Marner, and Tavares.

Yes you can say that’s the reason why his numbers are going up each year but I also think that his pure raw talent and his passion to win and play hard is what also helps his game out. (stats from NHL.com)

Hyman’s Type of Game

If you’re a Toronto Maple Leafs fan or just know who Hyman is, you know what kind of game he plays. Dump and chase, fight for pucks in corners, stay in front of the net kind of game, and of course that has worked for him, his line mates and obviously his team over the years.

Hyman isn’t known for flashy moves and being a pure goal scorer but he has maybe given himself a name for being a 20 goal scorer now, with 20 goals last year and now 17 goals in 39 games this year.

That puts him on pace for 27 goals by the end of the season which would be yet another career high in goals (27) and ultimately in points (50) passing his career high set last year at 41 PTS.

Former head coach Mike Babcock said Zach Hyman is the best forechecker in the NHL, and in my opinion he’s definitely up there.

He is one of, if not the best in the NHL. His mentality and his eagerness to chase pucks and fight for those 50/50 puck battles makes Zach Hyman who Zach Hyman is… a great hockey player (stats from NHL.com)

Hyman’s Contract

We all know by now that the Toronto Maple Leafs salary cap situation is tight, but the team does have some nice contracts currently on their roster, and Hyman is one of them.

Zach Hyman’s contract – 2.25 M signed through 2020-21

Hyman was given this contract at the beginning of the 2017-18 season, a year after his first full season (was given a two year entry level contract, 15/16 – 16/17)

In 290 career games as a Toronto Maple Leaf he has (67G 79A 146 PTS) 146 points in 290 games for a player making 2.25M is a steal, especially when Hyman continues to improve every year.

What do you think about Zach Hyman? Do you like him as a player? Do you think he is underrated?