Hyman shifting into more of a shutdown role
Gritty forward will play on the third line with Kerfoot, Kapanen
When Mitch Marner returns to the Maple Leafs — which could happen as early as Wednesday’s game against the Colorado Avalanche — Zach Hyman will have a new role.
Hyman will move to the third line, with Alex Kerfoot and Kasperi Kapanen. That would be perceived as a demotion to some, after Hyman played two seasons with Auston Matthews and one with John Tavares. But how does Hyman feel about it?
“Good,” he said. “Ever since I got here, my job is to go and do my job, no matter who I’m playing with.
“We’ve talked about our depth and how many great players we have. And if I’m playing with Kerf and Kappy, those are two great players to play with. So I’m in a great spot. And, you know, we just want Mitch to come back.”
The Leafs put Nick Shore on waivers Tuesday, which will allow them to activate Marner on Wednesday. Head coach Sheldon Keefe told reporters prior to Tuesday’s game in Philadelphia that Marner’s return was “imminent,” adding “we’ll make a decision if it’s (Wednesday) or the weekend” depending on how Marner feels, likely after the morning skate. Hyman has always been an elite, dogged forechecker. He scored 20 goals last year and silenced critics that had wanted more skill on the top lines.
But Ilya Mikheyev has had an impressive rookie campaign. And when new coach Sheldon Keefe came in, he put Mikheyev on Tavares’s left wing, moving Hyman to the right side with
Marner sidelined.
Keefe liked what he saw with the big, fast Mikheyev on Tavares’s wing.
“I think he’s paired very well with John and we’ve liked that line and how well they’ve done,” Keefe said.
When Marner returns, he’ll go back to Tavares’s right side. That’s how they practised Monday. But Hyman’s versatility means a new role, on a line that has a lot of speed and tenacity.
At home, they’ll be able to match up against the other team’s top lines, meaning Tavares can go out against a second or third line, creating a mismatch.
“(That third unit is) a line that we need to really kind of get going, not just on offence or anything like that but just to be hard on the other team’s better lines,” Keefe said. “We can have that as a potential matchup opportunity for us, then free up some of our other lines.
“With Zach’s skill set, we think he fits very well there, theoretically. So we want to have a look at it and see how it goes.”
It has been a remarkably unlucky run of injuries for what was last year’s top line. Hyman, Tavares and Marner have not played a single game together this season — and might not with the new combinations. “This has kind of been the first real (season of ) adversity from an injury standpoint where I’d say where we have guys out for extended periods of time,” Hyman said. Hyman has shown some versatility under Keefe, playing the right wing. But he’s done it before. When he was coming up with Keefe and the Marlies, the coach used him on either wing.