How Oilers’ Zach Hyman is defying aging curves to become a top NHL goal scorer

EDMONTON — Don’t even try to tell Zach Hyman that he shouldn’t be doing what he’s doing.

Here he is, at 31 years old, with 25 goals through 35 games thanks to his third hat trick of the season. He’s now tied for fourth in the NHL in that department after a 3-1 win Saturday over the Ottawa Senators — a seventh straight victory for his Edmonton Oilers to push them into a playoff spot.

Hyman is closing in on the 27 goals he scored in 2021-22, his first campaign as an Oiler, when he established a career high at age 29. He’s within shouting distance of his newest personal best, set last season when he found the back of the net 36 times.

He’s on pace for 58 goals this season, flipping aging-curve data upside down in the process.

“I always hated the misnomer that you fall off a cliff when you turn 30,” Hyman said. “Everybody takes care of their body differently.

“There’s some part of analytics that I like, but I don’t like that. You go off the average, and a lot of guys fall off when they’re 30. But there’s no reason you can’t get better.”

Hyman points to Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby and his former Toronto Maple Leafs teammate Patrick Marleau — a sure-fire future Hockey Hall of Famer and a probable one — as prime examples of late. Crosby is having one of the best seasons of his career at age 36, whereas Marleau had 27 goals as a 38-year-old in his first season in Toronto.

Tim Thomas, Brad Marchand and Martin St. Louis are others in recent memory whose careers took off when most tend to slow down. Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch last month compared Hyman’s later-career scoring prowess to that of Joe Pavelski’s or Chris Kreider’s.

There’s no doubt Hyman has some of that fine wine aging in him.

He said he’s making up for lost time, a fair point considering he didn’t become a full-time NHLer until the 2016-17 season when he was 24.

He’s never been the fastest or most graceful skater. He’s never been close to the biggest player. He’s never had a booming shoot. Instead, to become a goal scorer, Hyman’s made a habit of venturing to the area where most goals are scored — the front of the net.

Still, there’s been a lot of trial and error along the way.

“You spend enough time there and you figure it out,” he said. “My first year, I had 10 goals, and I was in front of the net all the time. I didn’t move. Then I slowly built my game out and slowly gained confidence and slowly figured out what works.

“You don’t always have to be directly in front of the goalie to be in front of the net. You can be off to the side. You can flash screen. You can be moving. The more time you play, at least for me, the more time you’re able to recognize what’s happening. Then, when you play with super, super talented players, you talk the game through.

“That helps. That’s where the chemistry comes into play.”

Two of his goals on Saturday illustrate the adaptability he tries to exude while in his office.

Hyman provided that moving screen as he just got a piece of an Evan Bouchard point shot to open the scoring at 18:08 of the second period.

Though his second marker came off the rush, he completed his hat trick with 2:50 remaining in regulation by standing to the side of the net and providing a target for a Connor McDavid pass on a power play.

That’s a play Hyman’s made part of his offensive repertoire. He likes to think of himself as a basketball backboard where he’s expanding the net by a few feet for his teammate with the puck. If he’s the intended receiver, the puck is either going to go off him or his stick and in or it’s going to hit his body and bounce out to the slot.

“I just think it’s a good play instead of, traditionally, when I first came into the league, everyone would just stand in front of the goalie,” Hyman said. “You’ve got to be creative and find ways.”

Knoblauch has been behind the Edmonton bench for just 23 games — the Oilers improved to 17-6 under his watch thanks to Saturday’s win — but he’s found “Zach does a lot of things that go underappreciated.”

The way he operates in front of the net sure isn’t as glamourous as McDavid darting around the ice, Leon Draisaitl zipping backhand passes or Ryan Nugent-Hopkins firing a wrist shot home. It’s definitely essential to the Oilers’ success, though.

Knoblauch said Hyman possesses the ideal combination of work ethic, touch and intelligence to get the job done effectively. The latter facet falls into that underappreciated category.

“Scoring goals is about feel, but a lot of it is being a smart hockey player,” the coach said.

There’s no question that description is apt for Hyman. He’s someone coaches have always trusted to play with offensive superstars.

The way Hyman tells it, he knows his game well and how to connect with them.

“What’s made me successful with those players is knowing who I am and not changing,” he said. “Whether it’s a confidence thing, you start to play with a really talented player and you try to over-give them the puck or you try to do things that are outside of your game. Then, all of a sudden, you lose the thing that you’re really good at and you lose the reason why you were on that line or why you got promoted.

“That’s hard to do, but you have to be really comfortable with who you are. Then you can adapt your game accordingly.”

Hyman was a very good player as a Maple Leaf, but he’s adapted enough to show continual year-over-year improvement in his two and a half seasons as an Oiler.

There was plenty of criticism of the Oilers and GM Ken Holland when Hyman was signed to a seven-year, $5.5 million AAV contract in the 2021 offseason. Skeptics felt he was no more than a byproduct of the Leafs forwards like Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander and argued that the contract would age terribly.

What those panning the deal didn’t consider was that the first four or five seasons were Edmonton’s Stanley Cup window, that Hyman proved he could hang with good players, and he was the type of player the Oilers were missing. Plus, though he doesn’t wear a letter on his sweater, he’s regarded as part of the team’s leadership group.

Of course, Hyman benefits from being on an elite power play. But he’s part of the reason for its success.

Yes, Hyman’s 18.5 shooting percentage is high. But it was 19.8 percent in 2019-20 with the Leafs and it has been above 12 percent in each of the last six seasons.

Taking most of his attempts around the net helps him be more prolific. He leads the NHL with a 14.1 expected plus/minus, per Hockey Reference, which is a stat that considers the shot location and uses leaguewide averages to determine the likelihood of that shot being a goal.

Put it all together, and Hyman is on the short list of the best big-money free agents signed in the salary-cap era. Scott Niedermayer with Anaheim, Zdeno Chara with Boston, Marian Hossa with Chicago, and current New York Ranger Artemi Panarin — the person Hyman is tied with in goals — would be among the others in the running. The first three were pivotal parts of Stanley Cup-winning teams.

That’s all that’s missing for Hyman given how well things have gone in Edmonton.

“For me, it was about fit,” he said of choosing the Oilers. “I just looked at it and said, ‘This is the place I want to be. These are guys I want to play with. These are guys I want to win with.’

“Personal success is great, but I think this team gives me the best chance, personally, to win a Cup. … I’m happy to tie my boat to some pretty good players here.”

He’s certainly showing more every day that he’s one of them, too, regardless of age.

(Photo of Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins: Codie McLachlan / Getty Images)