After helping the Edmonton Oilers make their way to the Stanley Cup final last year and helping them secure a chance to redo the whole thing against the Florida Panthers this year, it has been confirmed that Oilers forward Zach Hyman will not be joining his team on the ice. Now, this situation can be looked at in one of two ways: 1) It was inevitable Hyman would sustain some sort of injury considering he worked like a physical force for the Oilers, leading the playoffs series in terms of hits by garnering 111 total, OR 2) From Hyman’s perspective, this just sucks!

In a recent episode of the Spittin Chiclet’s podcast, Ryan Whitney, who has played for both the Oilers and the Panthers but was donning an Oilers hat in the interview with Hyman, asked the player if he got emotional when he realized his playoff run for this year had come to an end after the injury. “I hate to bring this stuff up.” Whitney added, “People are just so interested, like that has to be a moment where you break down a little bit, knowing that like your chance to bring anything more forward for the team is …[over]?”

Zach Hyman, who seemed to be putting on a brave and cheerful face for the interview, didn’t hold back on the sincerity with his answer, saying,

“Yeah, it’s hard, like it’s, um, I don’t know if I grasp it in the moment.” Hyman referred to the moment he was hit by Dallas Stars forward Mason Marchment and sustained the upper body injury that needed rapid surgery. “Like, I think in the moment you’re [thinking] I can play through it. Like whatever it is, um, I’ll be able to play, and [I] quickly realized that, uh, it was something that needed surgery.”

The details of the surgery that was performed on the day after the match remain undisclosed,

 as does the nature of the initial injury. “Um and then yeah, like, uh, the guys came over, um, in the intermission just to check up on me. Like, that’s kind of what guys do when there’s a serious injury, and I kind of broke down.” Hyman finally said, adding, “Like, I was emotional but at the same time, you’re trying to keep it together cuz the guys got to go out there and win a period.” Hyman got injured and exited after 3:11 of ice time and the Oilers went on to win the game 4-1.

Despite him being out of the playoff finals, Zach Hyman’s contributions to this playoff run will not be forgotten

Speaking of Hyman’s loss to the team, captain Conor McDavid said, “Obviously it’s extremely disappointing to lose [Hyman]; devastated for him. He wants to be out there, wants to make a difference and so we’ll miss him a lot.” Hyman, who joined the Oilers in 2021 after leaving the Toronto Maple Leafs, made an emotional speech after their 2023 Stanley Cup loss where he said that the team would be back in the final, and now that it’s happened, it’s sad to see him miss it; however, his contribution to a fantastic series where the Oilers finished the Western Conference final in 5 games and seem to be more in control of things will not go unnoticed.

He had 11 points for the Oilers this season with five goals and six assists in the fifteen games he played, but his main contribution was as a physical force, scoring 111 hits, which is only 15 hits short of the playoff record made by Blake Coleman of the Tampa Bay Lightning five years ago! This is partly why the question as to whether this fate was inevitable is up for grabs. Does it make sense to expect the worst when you’re making that many hits? Who knows, maybe Zach Hyman wasn’t thinking of that for the sake of the larger picture, i.e., his team.

Hyman’s absence may throw the team a bit off balance, but Florida is also missing winger AJ Greer on account of a lower body injury, so maybe there will be some give and take there. The good thing is that Hyman’s surgery was quick and is now over, so the road to recovery has already begun!