Hyman ready for a move if Marleau joins Matthews
Those with a pencil who chart the Maple Leafs top forward lines for this season likely flip to the eraser when they get to Zach Hyman.
The arrival of left winger Patrick Marleau is seen as the more preferable choice to flank Auston Matthews, Hyman’s regular centre all last year, the team’s top scorer and Calder Trophy winner, with William Nylander remaining on the right side. Hyman would likely keep tumbling down the depth chart past James van Riemsdyk, who appears set again as Tyler Bozak’s portsider with Mitch Marner.
That would leave feisty two-way forward Hyman to find a match with Nazem Kadri and Connor Brown, unless coach Mike Babcock has other plans for fourth line left winger Leo Komarov. But Hyman, whose forechecking made him a second locomotive on the Matthews all-rookie train, is not fretting possible re-assignment towards the caboose.
“Wherever you play, there is enough ice time for everybody,” Hyman insisted this week at the Leafs’ summer workouts. “It’s good to have this problem, because it means you have a lot of good guys and a lot of depth.”
Plugging the 1,000-point Marleau into the Matthews/Nylander dynamic makes a lot of sense, with few believing Marleau’s imminent 38th birthday will signal a drop in production. Perhaps if Hyman had put up second-half numbers at the rate he in did in playoffs — four points in six games in the Capitals’ series, compared to four in his final 19 regular season contests — there would be more debate.
But Hyman is ready to welcome Marleau, the player and the person, and to make it work wherever coach Mike Babcock places him.
“I met (Marleau) briefly when he came in here to check out the training facilities,” said the Toronto-born Hyman. “There was no hockey talk between us that day, but I look forward to getting to know him full time when camp rolls around.
“He’s a great player, I loved watching him growing up and now I get to play with him. He’s already been in the league a long time, established himself as an NHL great and it’s going to be fun. I’m sure he has a lot of tricks up his sleeve and a lot of tips for us as to how he’s been able to play so long. He’s obviously in great shape.
“My role, that’s for the coaches to decide. They send you out there, but when they do, that’s what you can control, doing the right things, helping your team win.”
Unlike Josh Leivo or Nikita Soshnikov, talented scoring wingers who’ve yet to get a permanent spot, Hyman fit the Babcock template and played all 82 games last season, boosting his confidence of staying in the NHL.
“It was nice having that first full year under my belt, having that experience. Now you know what you need to work on, to improve what you’re good at and what you’re not.
“I just want to be here and help and it started off with a bang last year, with Auston’s four goals. He’s a great player, a great friend of mine and it was fun to get to know him and be part of all that. He makes good players around him better and you see how humble he is off the ice.
“I played with him pretty much every game last year and we had some good chemistry, but whatever happens, happens. The thing about our team is that we are really close. Whoever you play with, you have a good relationship with that person.”