Zach Hyman has been doing nothing but score lately. The catch? It's been in the strangest ways possible.
Against Chicago, he kicked the puck off his thigh and into the net. It was waived off, but still. Against Nashville tonight, he added two power play goals, both from right on top of the crease. His last three goals have come from a combined total of eight inches away from the net. He's not sniping from the circles or roofing backhands from the slot. He's camping in the blue paint, getting whacked, cross-checked, and somehow finding ways to jam pucks past goalies.
Fourteen goals in his last 17 games. That's a lot of production from a guy who wasn't scoring much at all early in the season after returning from injury.
But the Edmonton Oilers weren't worried. Not even a little bit.
The organization has analysts doing every job imaginable, tracking every stat any fan could ever want to know. One of those stats is expected goals—basically, a measure of the quality of scoring chances a player is generating based on shot location, type, and situation. And when Hyman wasn't scoring early on, his expected goals said he should have been. He was getting chances. High-quality chances. The puck just wasn't going in.
Kris Knoblauch had a simple take on it: Hyman was overdue, and when it started happening, watch out.
Turns out Knoblauch makes the big bucks for a reason. He was right. Once Hyman broke through, the floodgates opened. Now he can't stop scoring, even if those goals come from the most unglamorous spots on the ice.
That's Hyman's game. He doesn't score highlight-reel goals from the hashmarks. He scores garbage goals. Net-front scrambles. Deflections. Rebounds. Pucks that trickle through the goalie's pads while he's being cross-checked in the spine. It's not glamorous, but it works. Fourteen goals in 17 games proves that.
Unfortunately, last night it wasn't enough. The Oilers played sloppy against Nashville. Turnovers they'd love to have back. Defensive breakdowns that cost them. Hyman did his part—two power play goals, both from right on top of the net—but the team couldn't overcome their own mistakes.
Still, Hyman's recent stretch is a reminder of what he brings to this team beyond just goals. He fights. He finishes checks. He screens goalies until they can't see anything. He gets to the net. He parks himself there and refuses to move. Honestly, if Connor McDavid asked him to throw on the goalie gear, he'd probably do it without hesitation.
That's the value of Zach Hyman. He does whatever it takes. When he wasn't scoring early in the season, he was still doing all the other stuff—forechecking, creating space for McDavid, battling in corners, killing penalties. The goals weren't coming, but the effort never wavered. And the Oilers knew, based on the underlying numbers, that eventually the puck luck would turn.
It has. In a big way.
Expected goals are a useful tool because they cut through short-term variance. Sometimes players go through stretches where they can't buy a goal despite doing everything right. Other times, players go on heaters that aren't sustainable based on the quality of their chances. Hyman's early-season drought was the former. His current run is the payoff. He was generating quality chances all along; now they're actually going in.
And they're going in from ridiculous distances. Three goals from a combined eight inches away. That's absurd. He's made a living this season out of being in the exact spot goalies hate most: right on top of them, stick on the ice, ready to bang home anything that comes near the crease.
The Oilers need that. McDavid and Draisaitl can create offence from anywhere on the ice, but having a guy who's willing to pay the price in front of the net is invaluable. Hyman absorbs punishment, battles through cross-checks, and still finds ways to get his stick on pucks. It's a skillset that doesn't always show up in highlight packages, but it wins games.
The other night in Nashville, it almost did. Two power play goals from Hyman, both from his office right on the goal line. But sloppy play elsewhere cost the Oilers. Sometimes that happens. The good news? Hyman's rolling. Fourteen goals in 17 games, with no signs of slowing down.
Knoblauch called it. Hyman was overdue. Now he's cashing in. And as long as he keeps parking himself inches from the net, the goals will keep coming—no matter how weird they look.
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