Oilers Lose Hyman, a Babcock Connection & a Curious Thought
Some injuries are minor; others make you stop for a second. The Edmonton Oilers announced that Zach Hyman is expected to miss about two weeks with an undisclosed injury. That means at least six games on the sidelines, and potentially more. That's not exactly what the Oilers needed. The team is also missing Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and the question is whether the depth can cover for these key absences.
Hyman is one of those players whose importance goes beyond the scoresheet. He has been a terrific fit alongside Connor McDavid, does the dirty work around the net, wins battles, gets to the hard areas, and generally makes life easier for the superstar beside him. With Nugent-Hopkins already on injured reserve, the Oilers suddenly have to shuffle their forward group again. Max Jones is expected to move into a top-six role, at least for now.
And that could make the next couple of weeks a little more interesting in Edmonton.
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And Then There’s Jamie McLennan.
Another thought popped into my head when I saw the Hyman news. Jamie McLennan. That’s not because there is any connection between Hyman's injury and McLennan. There isn't. Hyman was a strong advocate for Mike Babcock being in Edmonton. And that brought McLennan back to mind.
McLennan was one of the voices defending Mike Babcock when the veteran coach arrived in Edmonton. He was quite open about believing Babcock was a good fit for the Oilers and that the criticism surrounding the coaching change deserved some perspective.
That doesn't mean anything about what is happening now. But it does make for an interesting little subplot. Babcock was brought in to bring structure, discipline and a different identity to an Oilers team that had spent years trying to maximize the talents of McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Hyman was an important piece in that equation.
Now the Oilers have to play without him for a while.
The Bigger Question for the Oilers.
The real story isn't McLennan, of course. It's how Edmonton manages without Hyman. The Oilers have enough talent to survive losing one forward. They have Connor McDavid, after all. But Hyman isn't easy to replace because his game complements McDavid's so well.
That's why these early-season injuries can be revealing. They force a team to find out what it looks like when one of its familiar pieces isn't there. And for Edmonton, this is another early test of Babcock's new system. Not a referendum. Not a verdict. Just another little piece of information.
And, for whatever reason, when Hyman's name showed up on the injury list, this old hockey writer's mind wandered back to Jamie McLennan and all those Babcock conversations. Sometimes hockey does that.