Revisiting Toronto Maple Leafs' big blunder of allowing Zach Hyman to walk in free agency

The Toronto Maple Leafs had a hard decision to make when Zach Hyman entered free agency following the 2020-21 season. He was a star in the making and ended up costing his new team a lot of money. However, the decision to let him walk has proved to be somewhat disastrous.

For one thing, Hyman and the Edmonton Oilers have been a match made in heaven and they've had success. They've arguably been better than Toronto since then, though the Maple Leafs have hardly been a bad team.

They just might regret the decision to let him go, as one NHL insider called it their biggest mistake to date.

Hyman signed a seven-year, $38.5 million contract to join the Oilers in 2021. So far, he's been a solid running mate for Connor McDavid. He's also steadily improved for the most part.

His final season in Toronto saw him play just 43 games and record 33 points during that time. That's a solid pace, but the Maple Leafs opted not to bring him back.

Hyman immediately scored 54 points (76 games) in 2021, 83 (79 games) in 2022 and 77 points (80 games) in 2023. He's been on an upward trajectory ever since leaving Toronto. His goal-scoring has steadily increased too. After 15 goals with Toronto, he scored 27, 36 and 54 goals in his three Edmonton seasons.

The biggest disappointment might be in team success. It's hard to directly compare the two rosters, especially since one has McDavid and the other doesn't.

However, the Oilers were within one goal of a historic comeback in the Stanley Cup Final, whereas Toronto hasn't made it out of the first round but once since Hyman left.

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Zach Hyman confident in Oilers to return to Final

Zach Hyman and his team couldn't get it done in Game 7 against the Florida Panthers. A 2-1 loss meant that their comeback from three games to none fell short. However, Hyman is confident that they will be back.

Zach Hyman believes in the Oilers (Imagn)

He said, via Oilers Nation after the loss:

“Hey, there’s nothing that’s going to make this feel better. 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 with my [expletive] heart. I think this is the [expletive] worst feeling in the world."

He added that he hopes the roster returns and that the team is "special."