Edmonton Oilers' Zach Hyman returns to Toronto in peak form

Edmonton Oilers forward Zach Hyman is chased up the ice by Buffalo Sabres defensemen Bowen Byron at Rogers Place in Edmonton, on March 21.Perry Nelson/Reuters

When he was a student at the Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto, Zach Hyman had an essay due but asked one of his Grade 12 teachers to give him a different assignment. He was going to be away representing Canada at a hockey tournament and was afraid he would miss the deadline.

The teacher, Jory Vernon, told Hyman he would accommodate his request, but made him promise that he get two tickets to Hyman’s first game if he made it to the NHL.

“It was done tongue in cheek,” Vernon says. “I didn’t know if he was going anywhere but I’m a hockey addict and that was his get-out-of-jail-free card.”

A half dozen years later, Hyman was called up by the Maple Leafs from their farm team in the AHL.

“Zach texted me and said, ‘I haven’t forgotten my promise. There are two tickets waiting for you,’” Vernon recalls. Afterward, Hyman signed one of the tickets for him, writing ‘Promise made, promise kept.’

Hyman is now in his ninth season in the NHL and his third with the Edmonton Oilers, who pay a visit to Scotiabank Arena on Saturday night. Although his numbers have improved every year, this season is the finest of his career. He enters the meeting with Toronto with 48 goals, nine behind the league leader, Toronto’s Auston Matthews. Hyman’s previous high was 36 in 2022-23.

From the time he was playing Junior A Hyman was always a top prospect. One season with the Hamilton Red Wings – a Junior A club owned by his dad – he scored 42 goals and amassed 102 points in 43 games.

When he began to play hockey at the junior level, Hyman hoped it would lead to getting a college scholarship. After that, his goal was to get drafted by an NHL team. Then it was to score one NHL goal, and then perhaps 10.

“I don’t think you ever look that far forward,” Hyman says. “If you told me my first year that I could score 50, I would have thought that was crazy. But with every step that you take, you make it a larger reality. Things add up and things get achievable.”

He played at the University of Michigan for four years and in his senior season set a Big Ten scoring record with 22 goals and 54 points in only 37 games.

For that, he became a Hobey Baker Award finalist, which is awarded to the top hockey player in the NCAA.

He played part of one season for the Toronto Marlies before he was promoted to the Maple Leafs and has been in the NHL since. He was always a fan favourite at Scotiabank Arena because he works hard and is tough along the boards and dangerous around the net.

Toronto opted not to re-sign him following the 2020-21 season and he agreed to a seven-year contract with the Oilers for a total value of US$38.5-million. The long term and money seemed as though it could be a risk but he has flourished while playing alongside Connor McDavid.

Hyman grew up in Toronto and he and his four brothers all went to the Community Hebrew Academy. So did his wife, Alannah Mozes, whom he met when they took the same class in Grade 11.

“Growing up, my culture and religion were very important to me,” Hyman says. “My parents put me in the school to learn our history. I became immersed in the community and learned so much and met a lot of people that cared about me.”

Vernon and others at the school – which is commonly known as CHAT – remember him very well. And he remembers them.

Rob Fishbaum was his guidance counsellor.

“He was bright and very motivated and a model student,” Fishbaum says. “Everyone loved the guy and that was before we knew he was going to go anywhere. He is just an A-1 person.”

Fishbaum has a side gig as a magician. Hyman has one as an author of children’s books. When The Magician’s Secret was released in 2018, Fishbaum went to readings with him at Indigo stores and performed magic tricks.

“He is a really good person,” Hyman says. In high school Hyman had a very unusual schedule – attending classes in Toronto from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. while playing Junior A hockey in Hamilton. “I don’t know I could have done without his advice.”

Vernon says Hyman left the two tickets for him beneath the mat on the front porch of his parents’ house. Since then Vernon has visited him in Edmonton and says Hyman rolls out the red carpet for him.

“If I even motion for my wallet he says, ‘Don’t you dare,’” Vernon says. “This is not just somebody who is successful and a star and will give you two seconds of his time. At his core he is a rock-solid human being. He understands what it means to be an NHL player and a community leader.”

A few months ago a former colleague of Vernon’s reached out to him. He told him his seven-year-old grandson has leukemia and is a massive sports fan and asked if perhaps Hyman would send something to the little boy.

“Leave it to me,” Hyman said.

Not long after that a package arrived with two Oilers Heritage Classic jerseys autographed by the whole team and an adult-sized jersey signed by Zach.

When he was 11, Hyman met Gordie Howe, who made an appearance at one of Hyman’s father’s Junior A games. Mr. Hockey was Hyman’s hero.

“He shook my hand and I remember how his hands were so big and so strong,” Hyman says.

Howe asked him what he wanted to be.

Of course, he wanted to be a hockey player, “like you.”

The Hall of Famer bent down and said, “100 per cent is all we ask and I’ll see you in the NHL.”

“Okay,” Hyman thought. “That’s all I have to do.”

In his high school year book in his senior year, Hyman posted that anecdote next to his picture.

“Whatever you believe in, you can achieve,” Hyman said Friday before boarding a flight to Toronto.

Vernon says he hopes Hyman scores his 50th goal on Saturday. And he has even higher hopes for him, even though he is an ardent Maple Leafs fan.

“I’m blue in my blood,” he says. “But I want Zach to lift the Stanley Cup.”