The Toronto Maple Leafs have a very nice 5-2 record to begin the 2021 NHL season.
While the Toronto Maple Leafs are off to a hot start, and while players like William Nylander and Justin Holl are taking in some much deserved (and frankly, overdue) credit, one player is flying a bit under the radar and absolutely destroying the competition.
That is pending UFA Zachary Hyman, the least controversial player to ever wear the Blue and White (because he’s universally loved).
Hyman broke out last year and scored at about a 30 goal pace, something most people didn’t think he had in him. Myself, I always thought he was a bad fit on the first line because of his lack of scoring ability, but he proved me wrong last year.
Toronto Maple Leafs and Zach Hyman
Even this year, I thought moving him to a line with Kerfoot and Mikheyev in order to give the Leafs a really solid checking and defense line was smart move. But Hyman has picked up where he left off and his play has all but demanded a move back to the top line.
Despite just one goal and three points in seven games, Hyman has been an absolutely monster. In yesterday’s game against Calgary he refused to once again let Nylander be the best player on the ice, and completely took the game over when he was on the ice.
With Hyman on the ice yesterday, the Leafs took 17 shot-attempts and allowed 4, good for an otherworldly 80% Corsi. The Flames essentially dusted the Leafs in all other situations, but when Hyman was on the ice at 5v5 the shots were 13-2.
Here is how good Hyman was on Sunday: When he got on the ice with Zach Bogosian, the Leafs had a 90% Corsi. When Bogosian was on the ice with anyone else, he had a very, very bad 27% Corsi. Yikes! (All stats naturalstattrick.com).
Overall with Hyman on the ice this year, the Leafs get 55% of the shot-attempts, 53% of the shots, 59% of the scoring chances, and 58% of the expected goals. That is absolutely awesome.
Not as good as Nylander or Holl, but still damn impressive. Somehow all this has translated to Hyman only being a +1 which is about as good an example as any to show how dumb of a stat that is.
Either way, if Hyman keeps this up, the Leafs are going to five elite forwards instead of four, and thus will be all but unstoppable. I just can’t help myself, I love this team and I am going to enjoy every minute of their ascension to the top. When the invevitable occurs, here’s hoping Hyman gets to be one of the first to life the Cup into the air, as he’s close to being the most popular player in team history.
Funny how he’s the exact opposite of what people think of as a “Kyle Dubas player” despite, ironically, being the first NHL player Dubas ever acquired.