{"id":422465,"date":"2026-01-21T00:07:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T00:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/422465\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T00:07:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T00:07:08","slug":"zach-hyman-has-found-his-groove-and-edmonton-oilers-are-reaping-the-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/422465\/","title":{"rendered":"Zach Hyman has found his groove, and Edmonton Oilers are reaping the benefits"},"content":{"rendered":"

EDMONTON \u2014 Zach Hyman<\/a> is 31 games into his 2025-26 NHL season and finally appears adjusted to what he calls his \u201cnew normal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Edmonton Oilers<\/a> winger returned to the lineup Dec. 1 after missing the first 19 games recovering from surgery for a wrist injury suffered in last spring\u2019s Western Conference final.<\/p>\n

He had a slow start his first couple of weeks, as could be expected, but had eight goals in his last 10 games heading into a contest against visiting New Jersey on Tuesday. Since his return he had 19 goals and 31 points (fifth on the Oilers) and a plus-10 rating (third on the team) before facing the Devils.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very proud of the way I\u2019ve been able to play coming back from injury,\u201d the 33-year-old said after Tuesday\u2019s morning skate. \u201cIt\u2019s not easy being hurt. It\u2019s not easy going through rehab. It\u2019s not easy when you literally can\u2019t access your wrist, your hand and it\u2019s a long process to get back.\u201d<\/p>\n

As difficult as it was not playing for six months, Hyman recognizes the benefit as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the first time in a long time I\u2019ve had six months to actually train,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been playing a lot of hockey, so my mind felt great, my body felt great. The wrist takes as long as it needs to take, to find that touch around the net.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first 10 games, you have no pre-season you\u2019re just kind of going into it, you go from skating by yourself to skating with the group to all of a sudden a week later you\u2019re playing games. You have to get caught up pretty quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he is back, playing with his usual rambunctious style and he found his deft goalscoring touch once he got up to speed and into the rhythm of the play.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been in this position before where I\u2019ve been able to score a lot of goals in a short period of time, so it\u2019s not that it\u2019s new,\u201d he said. \u2018It\u2019s just the fact I\u2019m able to help the team and be back to where I wanted to be after major surgery and injury.\u201d<\/p>\n

The adjustment he had to make to his game came on the physical side. He\u2019s still as aggressive as ever, but it\u2019s more full body and less hands, as a precautionary move.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou adapt and be a better version\u201d of the physical player, he said. \u201cIt\u2019s the new normal you deal with.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to credit one individual for a team\u2019s success, but since Hyman found his groove on the ice the Oilers are a much-improved team. Even his superstar centreman, Connor McDavid<\/a>, has been producing at a career-high level.<\/p>\n

Finding wingers who fit with McDavid hasn\u2019t been as easy as one would think, but Hyman and McDavid, who worked well together last season, found almost instant chemistry again once reunited.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to go out and play your game,\u201d Hyman said of playing with McDavid. \u201cYou try to get him the puck as much as you can, but don\u2019t force it. It\u2019s like basketball, the more you can get it to your best player the better off you\u2019re going to be. If I get the puck and he\u2019s open, probably want him to have the puck and I\u2019ll go get open and be the last touch.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Oilers were 11-10-5 when Hyman returned and during his recent 20-game tear, in which he scored 17 goals, the team is 12-6-2.<\/p>\n

OF NOTE: Hyman is on standby for Canada\u2019s Olympic team. … Kasperi Kapanen<\/a>, who left Sunday\u2019s game against St. Louis with an injury, skated with the team Tuesday but head coach Kris Knoblauch said he\u2019s likely out for a week. … Leon Draisaitl<\/a>, home in Germany dealing with a personal matter, is expected back in Edmonton later this week.<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 20, 2026.<\/p>\n

John Korobanik, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EDMONTON \u2014 Zach Hyman is 31 games into his 2025-26 NHL season and finally appears adjusted to what…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422466,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-422465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}