Why the Leafs’ Zach Hyman is the perfect plug-and-play linemate — soon to be reflected in his pay

Imagine being able to create the perfect linemate.

I don’t mean the perfect hockey player. Those are two different things.

When I first presented the idea to my editor, he immediately countered with, “Of course, you want to write about Mitch Marner.” After all, he was fourth in league scoring heading into Saturday, is one of the elite playmakers in the NHL, has tremendous on-ice vision and keeps expanding his game. The enticement of playing with him was a significant part of attracting free-agent John Tavares to Toronto, to play with his hometown Maple Leafs.

With all due respect to my editor and Marner, however, that’s not who this is about.

This player wears No. 11 for the blue and white, and his name is Zach Hyman.

In the construction of Zach Hyman: Perfect Linemate, it wasn’t a matter of walking down the aisle and selecting skills and attributes and piecing them together. There were so many other things to consider, including time itself.

Some of the skills had to age properly, some added after they’d aged. Not all were available at the exact time they were needed. Many had to develop.

From a team standpoint, it would certainly depend on what kind of player you wanted to put with that perfect linemate, what role you wanted them to fill, and how they fit into the overall structure of the group.

But what if none of that mattered? What if you could build a player who fit anywhere, and instantly make everyone else better?

What makes No. 11 that guy? It’s all based on versatility.

In today’s game, lines change often: starting with two players with good chemistry, then adding the third piece with a complementary skill. Coaches spend hours putting their combinations together, and what looks good “on paper” doesn’t always work when the puck is dropped. Many work for short periods of time, and then production falls off.

That’s when coaches look for the catalyst, the glue guy, the fixer, the player who makes everyone happy again.

When Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe has a problem, he inserts Hyman, because he is that guy.

If you want to know who the coaches think needs a boost, watch to see who is lined up with No. 11. As Keefe noted recently, “There are a lot of things happening in his game that are really good and really encouraging for our team. No matter where we’re playing him, he’s just being himself.”

From Hyman’s standpoint, think about it like a relationship. It starts with a positive attitude, and a willingness to adapt to whatever he is presented with. He’s capable of handling the task at hand, whatever that may be, and a hunger and desire to excel. There isn’t a job he won’t tackle, or feel he can accomplish. That’s rare. There is no ego involved. As in a good relationship, he’s there when you want him to be, but invisible when you need him to be, never overcrowding you at the wrong time.

It’s fine to say: Be strong on the puck on the forecheck, go get your nose dirty and really grind. It’s another thing to be able to do that.

He’s physically capable at six-foot-one and 215 pounds, and has a low power base that gives him unusual stick strength. He is one of the elite forecheckers in the NHL; that has always been there.

What hasn’t always been there is the offensive side that has emerged. He has studied the game to better understand where his space is, and what he can take advantage of. He is confident taking on an opponent one-on-one offensively, but does it on his terms.

Above all the physical elements, though, it’s the mental side that separates him.

Hyman’s supreme confidence arrives with a humbleness that comes with being a late-round draft pick (123rd overall by Florida in 2010). There is an understanding that he has earned everything he has received. There is an acceptance of whatever he is handed, or as he said this past week, “I try to bring the same game no matter what line I’m on.”

This idea of the perfect linemate and the value a team places on that will meet a serious challenge at the end of this season, when Hyman becomes an unrestricted free agent.

He’s a bargain at $2.25 million (U.S.) this season — in a land where three of his regular partners, the direct beneficiaries of his game, earn as much as five times more — and something will have to give. The Leafs’ restrictive salary-cap situation will dictate that. At 28 years old, it could be the one opportunity Hyman gets to earn to his true value.

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A long-time favourite saying in hockey is: Let the singers sing, and the dancers dance. Players are encouraged to do only what they do best and not to stray too far from that skill set. If you excel at being a checker, then you stay a checker. Scorers get paid to score, so why would they even want to alter their game?

Zach Hyman views the game a different way. Right now, he’s both a singer and a dancer. He plays up and down the lineup, literally from top to bottom, and excels throughout. At each stage, he makes other players better at what they do best.

That’s the difference. He doesn’t take them out of their game. He makes their game better.

Dave Poulin is a former NHL player, executive and TSN hockey analyst based in Toronto. He is a freelance contributing columnist for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @djpoulin20