In the past eight weeks, Connor McDavid has led the NHL in goals. The second-best goal-scorer during that span? Well, it's his Edmonton Oilers linemate, Zach Hyman.
When defending some of the more controversial Olympic roster selections, Team Canada GM Doug Armstrong warned against putting too much emphasis on recency bias over a player's career resume.
But in a shortened tournament, there's something to be said for going with the hot hand — or hot pair of hands.
Since Nov. 23, there's been no one hotter in the NHL than Connor McDavid, who leads all scorers with 20 goals in 26 games. The second-best goal scorer during that span is his Edmonton Oilers linemate, Zach Hyman, who has an equally impressive 19 goals in 26 games.
Following Sunday's 5-0 win against Armstrong's St. Louis Blues, where McDavid and Hyman combined for two goals and three assists with the Team Canada GM watching, Edmonton's dynamic duo has now combined for 39 goals and 81 points in 26 games.
No two players are clicking the way that McDavid and Hyman have been clicking this season. It's yet another reason why Hyman — and not Sam Bennett, Connor Bedard, Wyatt Johnston or anyone else — should get the nod as a potential injury replacement if Tampa Bay's Brayden Point cannot go to the Olympics next month.
After all, chemistry matters.
In a two-week tournament, where players will essentially land in Milan and start playing meaningful games with a group of relative strangers — and where practice time will be severely limited — having someone you know and you click with could be the difference between winning gold and coming home disappointed.
Hyman, who might have been selected to Canada's Olympic team had he not missed the first two months of the season with a wrist injury. But since returning, he has 19 goals in 31 games. That's a 50-goal pace.
Since Dec. 5, no one in the NHL has scored more goals.
And for anyone complaining about recency bias, keep in mind that Hyman also finished third in the Rocket Richard Trophy race, with 54 goals in 2023-24, and ranks 10th overall in goals scored (100 in 184 games) over the past three seasons. Among Canadian-born players, only Sam Reinhart, Nathan MacKinnon and Sidney Crosby have scored more goals during that span, with all of three of them also having played 23 games or more than Hyman has.
"When they originally announced the roster, I understood why he wasn’t on it," Sportsnet analyst Kevin Bieksa said earlier this month. "He missed too much important time at the beginning of the year. He was always going to be a guy who had to play really well this season to go on. But we know he complements McDavid, we know he can score and go to the net, and now with the Point injury, now with these injuries and you're thinking about who can come in, a guy who's playing his best hockey, he's hot, he's got chemistry, why not?”
Indeed, why not?
Point is a centerman with the Lightning, but on Team Canada, he was probably going to be playing a top-six role on the wing. If so, then Team Canada is probably looking at wingers as potential replacements. Wingers who can score.
We can argue whether Hyman is as talented a hockey player as Bedard or as gritty as Bennett or as complete a player as Wyatt Johnston. But there's no denying that he and McDavid have a chemistry that is hard to replicate, as we all saw when McDavid found Hyman with a spinning, cross-ice pass to give Edmonton a 4-0 lead on Sunday.
Again, that shouldn't be understated. In 2014, Crosby's chemistry with Pittsburgh Penguins linemate Chris Kunitz was enough of a factor that Kunitz was selected to Team Canada ahead of Logan Couture, Tyler Seguin and Joe Thornton, even though Kunitz had yet to score 30 goals in his career.
McDavid can probably play with just about anyone and find success. But there are levels to that success. Having a linemate who knows where McDavid wants the puck, where McDavid wants to pass the puck and who has a history of producing alongside the best player on the planet is something that cannot be replicated with ease.
Since coming to Edmonton in 2021, Hyman has scored 163 goals and 289 points in 339 games, mostly as McDavid's wingman. Last year, Hyman's absence in the Stanley Cup final because of a lower-body injury was a main reason why the Oilers lost to the Florida Panthers in six games.
And it is not just Hyman who has benefitted in this relationship.
When Hyman was out of the lineup, McDavid scored seven goals and 27 points in 19 games. Since Hyman's return, McDavid has 23 goals and 58 points in 31 games.
"You pick the right team to win," Hyman told reporters after being left off Canada's roster. "There's so many deserving players. I'm sure the brass there was debating countless lineups, and they camp to what they thought was best. I know as a Canadian, I'll be cheering for that team. As a Canadian, you're allowed to be disappointed. But at the same time, you'll be cheering for your country and rooting Connor on and hoping they bring home gold."
Indeed, the last thing you want is to fall short again because McDavid was missing a player who tends to bring the best out of him.
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