- The Maple Leafs can’t afford to pay Hyman what others will pay. They probably won’t offer the same kind of term he could get on the open market, either. And while I never discount what kind of salary cap magic Leafs money man Brandon Pridham might come up with, this seems to be a rather basic decision for the winger.
You may get one chance in your career, at the right time, to make big money. He has scored 28 goals in his past 82 regular-season games and scoring isn’t really what he does. He’s maddening to play against. He’s non-stop. He hits everything and everybody. And then he does it again the next night or the next shift. He is the 11th highest-paid player on the Leafs as he heads to free agency.
This is Zach Hyman’s time and deservedly so.
He’ll get more than $5 million a season, probably in a five-year package. And the Leafs will miss him terribly when he’s gone.
- Are Vegas and Colorado playing in the same league as Montreal and Winnipeg? Sure doesn’t look that way.
- What Frederik Andersen will find in free agency: There aren’t a lot of NHL teams looking for starting goaltenders and those that should be looking are already tied up with too many goalie contracts. One team in desperate need of a starter: Buffalo Sabres. But I’m hearing they like one of the Columbus netminders.
- The anonymous gang-like hatred on social media — where there is a correlation between the lack of followers and the amount of vitriol — never seems to quiet and continues to disgust. The latest victims: Scheifele’s family after the hit on Jake Evans, and broadcaster Tara Slone. Will this mean-spirited nonsense ever end?
- Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane each signed eight-year, $84-million contracts in the summer of 2014 that would begin one year later and would coincide with the decline of the championship Chicago Blackhawks teams.
Six years have since passed and Toews mysteriously took a step back from his season, but one thing has been certain: The Blackhawks have been an also-ran in the NHL since altering their payroll significantly to take care of their two biggest stars.