Zach Hyman showed up for his Meet The Press session Wednesday morning without a cast on his repaired right wrist, so he’s on the mend after dislocating and tearing ligaments in the appendage in the fifth game of the Western Conference final.
When he’s on the ice with his Edmonton Oilers teammates is more fluid.
“Feel great, obviously no more cast,” said Hyman, who couldn’t push any weights in the gym or move a sofa this summer but his cardio from riding a bike is A-1.
“Won’t be ready for Day 1 (of camp). I’m skating, just not with the team, yet.”
Will he play any exhibition games, with the Oilers having eight?
Not ready to say yet, although Game 1 of the season Oct. 8 is the real key.
“I’ve had major surgery before on my knee and when you set a timeline or a date, you often get disappointed,” he said.
“For me, it will be two-week blocks, milestones we check off and hit. We’re progressing well,” said Hyman, who collided innocently with Dallas winger Mason Marchment in the open ice in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final, and instantly skated off the Rogers Place to the dressing room, holding his arm.
Hyman’s game is not only scoring, but pushing checkers away, buying space with his strength. So, while his legs are fine from training, his arm will need some work.
“Any time you’re in a cast and immobilized you can’t do as much. I was able to train my legs for the entire summer and skate. I can do everything I need to do, other than making sure my wrist is OK. Now we’re in the stage where we’re pushing the envelope and building strength back in the wrist. Very confident whatever date I’m back, I’ll be back to normal,” he said.
The Oilers got past the Stars without Hyman, and won Game 1 of the final against Florida in a terrific overtime game, but not having him for the series was like the Panthers being without their No. 1 right-winger Sam Reinhart. In the end, it was a killer, coupled with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins playing with a broken hand.
He was in cheerleader mode.
“I don’t know if it would have been different if I was (hurt in) the first round. Ekky (Mattias Ekholm) was hurt then, it was pretty disheartening from us and for him. It just so happened when I got hurt, he was returning. So that was good for us,” said Hyman.
“But any time you get hurt in playoffs, whether it’s early, in the middle or late like I did, it’s disheartening. I knew right away my season was over. You flip focus to helping the team in an emotional way, being positive around the guys.”
Hyman turned 33 in June, during the finals. He’s an older piece of the core, with the other 30-somethings on a team in win-now mode. But he’s not an old 33, with lots of tread on his tires. It’s not like he’s soldiered through 1,000 league games, just 653. He went to U of Michigan for four years before signing with the Maple Leafs, and they had him in the minors for a season.
“When I signed my contract everybody said I was old,” joked Hyman, who signed a seven-year deal with the Oilers with an AAV of $5.5 million when he was 29.
“I’m 33, but any time you have an injury you are excited to come back because something has been taken away from you. I wasn’t able to play in the finals. And now you’re working on getting back there,” said Hyman, who has played exactly 100 NHL playoff games.
“Crazy as it sounds, I feel rejuvenated by this whole process, getting back to normal,” said Hyman, who spent his summer months also looking after the OHL junior team in Brantford the Hyman family owns, where Zach is the team governor and brother Spencer, who got married in August, the day-to-day general manager.
Head Coach Kris Knoblauch speaks at a press conference as the Edmonton Oilers training camp opens on Wednesday, September 17, 2025 in Edmonton.
“When he got hurt, the first thing that goes through your mind is regret or we’ll be lost without him, but then you have to move on quickly to see who can replace him,” said Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch.
“But the way Zach was playing … the scoring, the skating, the physicality, he was quite a pest and he gave our team a lot of energy. He’s a very important piece to our team. Two years ago, look at all the goals he scored. Wow, it was very evident how effective he was. Last year, he didn’t score as many but in the playoffs, we all saw the physicality. When he got hurt, we couldn’t replace him with one guy, it had to be collectively.”
Knoblauch doesn’t know when he’ll be back like the old Hyman.
Lots of patience.
“We’re hoping he’s back quickly after the season starts,” he said.
Knoblauch will experiment with a right-winger for Connor McDavid to start practices Thursday. It’ll be a juggling act.
“We’ve got lots of possible right-wingers … (Andrew) Mangiapane, Matt Savoie, David Tomasek, Trent Frederic played all three positions when he was in Boston, lots of right wing. (Kasperi) Kapanen,” said Knoblauch.
Frederic may be more suited to a third line because of his skating and toughness. Kapanen is valuable because he shoots right, he can skate and he can certainly hit, also kills penalties, but his scoring has been in and out during his NHL career.
A first-line look with McDavid, for now, seems a bit of a reach for both.
But camp is all about trying things for coaches.
“We’re also looking at building a third line with a bit more physicality,” said Knoblauch, who didn’t mention last year’s Nino Niederreiter-Adam Lowry-Mason Appleton line in Winnipeg, but that model with Frederic in the hard-nosed Lowry mode if he gets a shot at centre, would be interesting.
Or maybe Frederic on wing but McDavid’s normal left wing, Nugent-Hopkins, in the middle for his playmaking and all-around defensive game. Or Adam Henrique, who wins more than 50 per cent of his draws and kills penalties, and is a natural centre who is seven games from 1,000.
Savoie is going to be on the team somewhere because of his speed and offensive chops after 54 points in his one-year of pro in Bakersfield but it might be a leap of faith to think he’s ready to play with McDavid.
The Czech-born forward Tomasek, 49 goals and 102 points in 99 games over the past two seasons for the Swedish team Farjestads, is a valuable right-shot centre but the 29-year-old has played right wing, too. Playing the middle at the NHL level is more defensive responsibility, coming back to help the defence in their zone, so maybe right wing? Whatever, Tomasek wasn’t signed to a one-year $1.2-million deal to be farther down the lineup than third line.
Free-agent signee Mangiapane, who can play right or left, would seem a good bet to play right wing initially with McDavid off his NHL experience, although on second blush he seems like a more natural fit on right wing for centre Leon Draisaitl if they keep Vasily Podkolzin on left wing with 29.
Off the first skate list Thursday, Savoie, Tomasek and Mangiapane are in the group with McDavid. Frederic and Kapanen with Draisaitl in the second session.
“I don’t want to commit to anything. We’re open-minded to possibilities,” said Knoblauch, refusing to be pinned down publicly on who gets the McDavid first-line shot at first practice in training camp.
“I would like to let my players know before I let you know,” laughed Knoblauch.