Zach Hyman

[Knightnight]

of Hyman's 7 assists this year... only 2 have been primary assists.

how is it possible to play with Tavares and Marner all year and only get 2 primary assists?

How do you play 24 games with MM and not have 1 goal off his passes. Forget the empty net gift. NOT one. Levo- one shift tonight one goal with MM. 24 games at average almost 20 minutes a night. He is not good at receiving or making passes. He is terrible on the cycle cause nothing happens off the cycle. He is terrible at shooting not sure what he brings other than hustle. He is not great a stripping pucks.

 

[frizzer1]

How do you play 24 games with MM and not have 1 goal off his passes. Forget the empty net gift. NOT one. Levo- one shift tonight one goal with MM. 24 games at average almost 20 minutes a night. He is not good at receiving or making passes. He is terrible on the cycle cause nothing happens off the cycle. He is terrible at shooting not sure what he brings other than hustle. He is not great a stripping pucks.

Well,obviously you don't know anything about Hockey..
It's the little things he does that don't get noticed.
Like cycling the puck before turning it over.
Like being in position to get a rebound and then fanning on it.
Like getting the puck in the slot and then missing your linemates by 6 feet.
Like just being on the ice while tavares, Marner, and Rielly create magic..
And so much more that literally no one else can do.

 

[Egghead1999]

Well,obviously you don't know anything about Hockey..
It's the little things he does that don't get noticed.
Like cycling the puck before turning it over.
Like being in position to get a rebound and then fanning on it.
Like getting the puck in the slot and then missing your linemates by 6 feet.
Like just being on the ice while tavares, Marner, and Rielly create magic..
And so much more that literally no one else can do.

You miss the most important thing: his wrap-around attempts cause a disturbance at the blue print

 

[Mr Hockey]

of Hyman's 7 assists this year... only 2 have been primary assists.

how is it possible to play with Tavares and Marner all year and only get 2 primary assists?

what makes you think the primary assist is the harder/best/etc of the assists to make, sometimes it's even the 3rd touch that's the most valuable of the play and he gets no point ... enjoy the victories, hate less and you will be a happier Leaf fan.

 

[Egghead1999]

what makes you think the primary assist is the harder/best/etc of the assists to make, sometimes it's even the 3rd touch that's the most valuable of the play and he gets no point ... enjoy the victories, hate less and you will be a happier Leaf fan.

You said it yourself "sometimes", not all the time

 

[Mr Hockey]

 

[Stephen]

One thing I really appreciate about Hyman is he's setting a clear example for any young player to follow if they want to be trusted by the coach and then given the chance to flourish. Leivo is really crashing and banging and fore checking a lot harder this year, Brown is mucking it up more, and Kapanen has brought some sandpaper too. Sets a clear benchmark and achievable goals for anyone hoping to break in. It's part of that winning culture: you don't have to try and be Steve Yzerman but if you do some of those Kris Draper things, you'll be ok.

 

[smitty10]

One thing I really appreciate about Hyman is he's setting a clear example for any young player to follow if they want to be trusted by the coach and then given the chance to flourish. Leivo is really crashing and banging and fore checking a lot harder this year, Brown is mucking it up more, and Kapanen has brought some sandpaper too. Sets a clear benchmark and achievable goals for anyone hoping to break in. It's part of that winning culture: you don't have to try and be Steve Yzerman but if you do some of those Kris Draper things, you'll be ok.

Hopefully one of these more skilled players can unseat him and move him down to the 3rd or 4th line where he belongs.

I agree though I like what he brings, just don't like him paired with our top players.

 

[indigobuffalo]

How do you play 24 games with MM and not have 1 goal off his passes. Forget the empty net gift. NOT one. Levo- one shift tonight one goal with MM. 24 games at average almost 20 minutes a night. He is not good at receiving or making passes. He is terrible on the cycle cause nothing happens off the cycle. He is terrible at shooting not sure what he brings other than hustle. He is not great a stripping pucks.

Are you on drugs?

 

[Randy Randerson]

Are you on drugs?

he really isn't that good at taking pucks away, he's tied for 13th on the team in takeaways with Johnsson and Gauthier being the only forwards with less. His role is really to get to the puck before the dmen can move it cleanly and tie it up more than taking it away. Guys who are good at taking pucks away are usually the ones that think faster than the guy with the puck more than just being pugnacious - Marner leads the team in takeaways, Leivo has 50% more takeaways than Hyman in abut half the ice time

 

[BertCorbeau]

he really isn't that good at taking pucks away, he's tied for 13th on the team in takeaways with Johnsson and Gauthier being the only forwards with less. His role is really to get to the puck before the dmen can move it cleanly and tie it up more than taking it away. Guys who are good at taking pucks away are usually the ones that think faster than the guy with the puck more than just being pugnacious - Marner leads the team in takeaways, Leivo has 50% more takeaways than Hyman in abut half the ice time

I wasn't quite sure that the takeaway stat is that reliable? I didn't believe that really accounted for won board battles, I thought it was more clean open ice takeaways?

 

[Randy Randerson]

I wasn't quite sure that the takeaway stat is that reliable? I didn't believe that really accounted for won board battles, I thought it was more clean open ice takeaways?

that's probably true but over a big enough sample it will still be telling about a guy's abilities, and the comment I replied to was specifically about stripping pucks. Hyman bangs around a lot and is never afraid to go into a crowd to get a puck, but he almost never comes away with the puck cleanly. He's useful at tying it up and he's fast enough to get there before it gets moved up on dump ins, and that's good enough when his linemates are the guys who can get it cleanly

 

[indigobuffalo]

he really isn't that good at taking pucks away, he's tied for 13th on the team in takeaways with Johnsson and Gauthier being the only forwards with less. His role is really to get to the puck before the dmen can move it cleanly and tie it up more than taking it away. Guys who are good at taking pucks away are usually the ones that think faster than the guy with the puck more than just being pugnacious - Marner leads the team in takeaways, Leivo has 50% more takeaways than Hyman in abut half the ice time

I’d have to question what the “takeaway” stat actually measures then. I assume when the Leafs dump the puck to turn the defence and Hyman wins the puck battle, doesn’t count as a “takeaway”. Although it should.

 

[Randy Randerson]

I’d have to question what the “takeaway” stat actually measures then. I assume when the Leafs dump the puck to turn the defence and Hyman wins the puck battle, doesn’t count as a “takeaway”. Although it should.

The guy who takes the puck away would get credit for the takeaway - Hyman's good at tying up the play until reinforcements get there, but he's not usually the one to get the puck. I think what you're suggesting sort of roles into the possession stats, like a measure of how the team's possession balances while that player is on the ice, then the relatives for his team mates while they're on the ice without him

 

[Egghead1999]

I wasn't quite sure that the takeaway stat is that reliable? I didn't believe that really accounted for won board battles, I thought it was more clean open ice takeaways?

If the stat does not include the board battles, it will be even worse.
Every team knows Hyman's way now. This happened few times in tonight game already. Hyman got to the puck before the first D, but that D tied him up. He could not do anything with it. The second D came in and took the puck away. I don't know, may be it is MM or JT fault

 

[Knightnight]

If the stat does not include the board battles, it will be even worse.
Every team knows Hyman's way now. This happened few times in tonight game already. Hyman got to the puck before the first D, but that D tied him up. He could not do anything with it. The second D came in and took the puck away. I don't know, may be it is MM or JT fault

I will put it in layman terms. The eye test is all you need to see about my comments. The ear test is what some like to turn into seeing. That is Coach Babcock telling everyone that ZH is the best fore checker and gets the puck. They hear it and they believe it. Yet the stats and the eye test are completely different.

 

[indigobuffalo]

If the stat does not include the board battles, it will be even worse.
Every team knows Hyman's way now. This happened few times in tonight game already. Hyman got to the puck before the first D, but that D tied him up. He could not do anything with it. The second D came in and took the puck away. I don't know, may be it is MM or JT fault

JT. If Hyman is being double teamed the C should be getting there to support.

 

[NoName]

The guy can put up 35-40 points on a cheap contract and is good at his niche (battling on the boards, retrieving pucks and general grindy-ness). He doesn't make or break the team (and on his own scoring merit, he would be a 3rd liner in most situations) but he is a net positive for the team, particularly at $2.25 million.

He seems to be a player that is inevitably either overrated or underrated by fans.

 

[Egghead1999]

JT. If Hyman is being double teamed the C should be getting there to support.

May be, I really don't know. Here is another "exhibit" of Hyman's greatness, do you remember that goal at the leaf vs capitals game 5 (??)? If Babs is right, that kind of scoring chance pattern shall happen at least once per game (may be in a period). So, are you telling me that JT and AM are floater?

 

[Albi34]

Hyman is awesome. you dont have to have 3 skilled guys on a line for it to be successful, as long as the third guy is still bringing value which he obviously is with marner and JT having career pacing years. no one else on the leafs crashes into the boards to get a puck nearly as well as hyman. if he can continue to do that, JT and Marner can do the rest. theres only 1 puck.

 

[Critical13]

I love Hyman, have always supported him, but he looks woefully out of place on that 2nd line. He's not even winning puck battles like he used to.

I'd be afraid to change anything on that line, though.

 

[Dough72]

he's nothing great overall but he is elite at getting the puck on the stick of his linemates a handful of extra times a game which makes him a valuable complimentary player for a line with a couple stars on it. And easily the best option at LW for the Leafs since that position is their weakness.

 

[great]

Hyman will be cheap contract. He's good at shooting into empty net, and doing wraparounds. Good at penalty killing. Babcock loves him exceptionally more though for reasons I don't know.

 

[Randy Randerson]

Hyman is awesome. you dont have to have 3 skilled guys on a line for it to be successful, as long as the third guy is still bringing value which he obviously is with marner and JT having career pacing years. no one else on the leafs crashes into the boards to get a puck nearly as well as hyman. if he can continue to do that, JT and Marner can do the rest. theres only 1 puck.

The thing I don't love about Hyman with two of the leagues best 20 players is that it lets defenses ignore him to take space from them, which is at a premium once you're in the offensive zone. We really don't know if Hyman is an anchor on his lines because we haven't seen a top 6 without him. He's got a good combination of being fast and being sort of heavy, but I really do think that a guy like Kapanen could do the same job while being more effective at making defenses account for 3 players which makes more space for his talented linemates and finishing the opportunities created for him. I would say that it certainly looks like Marner & Tavares' point production has more to do with Marner & Tavares than it does with Hyman, but we won't know that until we see something different

Keep in mind that we all want to see the same thing, for the team to be as good as it can be. With that in mind, we should be willing to try everything to see what works best

 

[Dough72]

Babcock loves him exceptionally more though for reasons I don't know.

it's fine to disagree with his logic but Babcock has not shown irrational favoritism toward players. This is plainly evident when he kept Matthews off his top powerplay unit beause another group was doing a better job. Or when he featured a rookie on his powerplay during a crucial playoff series against Boston. Or when he has unheralded players like Leivo or Ennis on his powerplay because they have the right skill-set for it. Or a zillion other things.