Oilers’ Hyman Deserves Much More Attention for Amazing Season

Within moments, hats were raining down on the ice surface. That’s because the goal, which had been scored about an hour earlier, was Hyman’s third of the game.

The delayed celebration for Hyman’s hat trick was the perfect metaphor for his season: the veteran winger’s taken way longer to get his flowers.

More than three-quarters through the 2023-24 NHL schedule, Hyman is finally starting to get the recognition he deserves. He has an Oilers-leading 46 goals this season, tied with Florida Panthers forward Sam Reinhart for second most in the league, behind only Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs, who tops in the NHL this season with 55 goals.

Hyman is Having a Season for the Ages

To appreciate how amazing Hyman has played this season, consider these stats and facts that place him in the company of the greatest players in NHL history:

Hyman’s Play Has Gone Unnoticed

Hyman took the Oilers lead for goals on November 11 and has not relinquished it since (and this is on a team that includes two players, McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, who each have four 40-goal seasons to their credit). He’s ranked within the top 10 in the league for goals every day since December 6. But for whatever reason, his sensational scoring has flown under the radar all these months. He didn’t even get a spot on the Pacific Team roster for the 2024 NHL All-Star Game at the beginning of February.

Around the league, more attention was paid to Alex Ovechkin’s scoring slump than Hyman’s scoring surge. In Edmonton, more fans are talking about McDavid’s assist totals than Hyman’s amount of goals.

Hyman is the NHL’s Most Reliable Scorer

What makes Hyman’s performance this season particularly special is how consistent he has played. His longest stretch without a goal this season is three games, and that’s only happened twice. Even Matthews, for all his scoring prowess, has two steaks of four games without a goal. Reinhart went seven games between goals last month. McDavid, who lit the lamp an incredible 64 times in 2022-23, has separate goal droughts lasting eight and 10 games.

Dependability is a hallmark of Hyman’s game. What shouldn’t be lost to his gaudy goal total is his all-around impact on his team. He goes into the corners, wins puck battles, and back checks about as well as any forward on the Oilers. Along with McDavid, he’s one of only two forwards in the NHL this season with a plus/minus rating of at least 30.

Hyman Can Join Exclusive Clubs

If Hyman didn’t share a dressing room with the aforementioned best player on the planet, he would be MVP of an Edmonton team with the best record in the NHL since American Thanksgiving, going 35-9-2 in its last 46 games.

The Oilers return to action tonight (March 16) with a home game against the Colorado Avalanche. Hyman needs just four goals to become the seventh player to score at least 50 goals for the Oilers in a season. The other six are either already in the Hall of Fame (Gretzky, Glenn Anderson, Jari Kurri, Mark Messier) or will be there as soon as they’re eligible (Draisaitl and McDavid).

Going into tonight’s contest against the Avs, Hyman is averaging 0.73 goals per game. If he can score at a slightly higher rate over Edmonton’s remaining 18 games, he might reach 60 goals, something that only 24 other players have done in the NHL’s 107-season history. Maybe then the hockey world will stop sleeping on Hyman.