May 28, 2025 by Ryan Lotsberg

Edmonton Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch told reporters that Zach Hyman underwent surgery to address an “upper body injury” on Wednesday. Unfortunately, Hyman’s season is done.

Hyman took a hit from Dallas Stars forward Mason Marchment just outside the Oilers blueline during the second period of Game 4 of the Western Conference Final and immediately left the game. Hyman raised his hands at the last moment in an effort to protect himself, but that just put his right arm in an awkward position when Marchment made contact with him. It was obvious that Hyman was in pain right away. It didn’t look good from the outset.

Marchment had this to say after the Darnell Nurse slash that took Roope Hintz out of the lineup in Game 2:

“A lot of that stuff, you just keep in the back of your mind, and if the opportunity presents itself then, you take your chance. We’ve got a long series here.”

The quote suggests that he had retribution on his mind ever since Game 2. The optics here are ugly. The optics aren’t always indicative of truth though. Marchment is a physical player. He was definitely trying to connect on a big open ice hit. It didn’t look like a play that was driven by malice though. It would be really hard to target someone’s wrist while trying to execute an open ice hit like that. As the hitter, you’re really just trying to make contact with the body somewhere, which is easier said than done at that speed. Hyman raising his hands to protect himself was what put his right wrist in that vulnerable position. The injury is the unfortunate result of a clean hit attempt in my opinion.

Related: Callouts, Standouts, and Shoutouts: Oilers put the Stars on the ropes with Game 4 win

The reality for the Oilers is that they will have to forge onwards without Hyman. This is a huge loss for the Oilers. According to Sportsnet Stats (@SNStats), Hyman ranks first in the NHL in goals (21) and second in hits (162) over the last two playoff seasons. Hyman was running away with the hits race this spring. Him reaching double digits in hits in a game was a routine occurrence. Sportsnet Stats also said that Hyman is the fifth player since 2006 to have at least ten points and 100 hits in a single postseason. Hyman had five goals and eleven points in fifteen games in these playoffs.

Oilers Zach Hyman

5th player since 2006 with 10 points & 100 hits in one postseason pic.twitter.com/nQBm0lZ0T9

— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) May 25, 2025

“He’s a wrecking ball out there right now” said Connor McDavid in regard to Hyman after Game 3. “Everybody’s buying in though and doing things that are maybe not the most comfortable things or the things that maybe that they’re not the most used to doing, and obviously he’s leading the way that way.”

Hyman does everything for the Oilers. He averaged the fourth most ice time (17:41) among Oilers forwards in these playoffs, and the third most five-on-five ice time among Oilers forwards according to Moneypuck. Eight of his eleven points and four of his five goals came at five-on-five. Hyman outscored opponents 15-8 (65.22%) at five-on-five, and he had an expected goals for percentage of 66.2% according to Natural Stat Trick. He almost doubled up his opponents, and his actual goal share was still below his expected goal share!

Hyman is also a big part of the Oilers powerplay. While Corey Perry ate into Hyman’s powerplay ice time in these playoffs, Hyman has long been a staple in front of the net on the Oilers powerplay. He does a lot of the heavy lifting on the powerplay. He keeps pucks alive and scores from the dirty areas in front of the net.

Getting Hyman and McDavid out as a penalty killing pairing was a change in strategy first employed by Knoblauch during the first round against the Los Angeles Kings. Hyman played 10:58 on the penalty kill in his fifteen playoff games compared to just 42 seconds in 72 games during the regular season. Hyman was a bigger part of the penalty kill during his first season with the Oilers in 2021-22 when he had 132:07 of penalty killing time according to Natural Stat Trick, but the Oilers decided to cut down his minutes by taking him off the penalty kill to get more out of him at five-on-five.

Hyman’s absence will leave a sizable void in the Oilers’ top six. The good news is that the Oilers have several options that could fill in on a scoring line; but nobody can replace Hyman’s contributions on their own. I don’t think anyone will fully replace Hyman’s physicality, but we might see an uptick in physical play from players like Evander Kane, Vasily Podkolzin, and Trent Frederic.

Perry will get even more time on the powerplay now, but someone else will have to play the net front role on the second powerplay unit. They will also need to find another penalty killer. Kasperi Kapanen took a penalty killing shift with Podkolzin after Hyman left the game, so that might be the solution there.

The other thing that the Oilers will miss in Hyman’s absence is his leadership. He’s leading by example with his physical play. We don’t get to be in the dressing room, but you can tell that Hyman is an extremely likable person and teammate. His leadership was on full display after the team’s heartbreaking Game 7 loss in the Stanley Cup Final last year. This is what he said to the group moments after that loss:

“Hey, there’s nothing that’s going to make this feel better. I got nothing to say. But I (expletive) know, I know we’re going to be back. I (expletive) know it. I (expletive) know we’re going to be back to it. I know it in my (expletive) heart. This is the (expletive) worst feeling in the world. I hope everybody comes back too. This team’s (expletive) special.”

The Oilers have a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference Final after their win in Game 4. They have three chances to make Hyman’s prediction of them getting back to the Stanley Cup Final come true. 

By all accounts, Hyman is an all-around fantastic human being, and it really sucks to see this happen to him. Hyman’s injury should only give the Oilers more motivation to close out the Stars and to show the world what Hyman already knows, which is how special this team is.