Advertisement

Zach Hyman addressed the media on 2018 locker clean out day, discussing what he’s working on in his game, the improvement in his puck skills, and whether the treatment of Jake Gardiner after Game 7 was fair.


Did you see this team grow, in many ways, despite the ending not going the way you wanted?

Hyman: Yeah, I think we definitely grew. We set the franchise point record in the regular season. We still didn’t get home ice, which is tough. I thought we had a great year. We went down 3-1 in the playoffs and we battled back and forced a Game 7. We had them up 4-3 going into the third. That’s really all you can ask for. I think it’s going to be a big learning lesson for us going forward. It’s a huge disappointment. It’s tough. We feel like we should still be playing. We feel we’re good enough to still be playing. But you’ve got to learn from it. It’s tough and it sucks. It’s going to sting for a while.

The young players on the team taking another step again… yet another year under your belts, something to learn? You talked about home ice… maybe that’s the goal, to get that even though the playoff system is different?

Hyman: Every year you go into the summer and you look at your previous year and you try to get better. You look at previous things you want to be better at and you try to become a better version of yourself. A lot of the young guys, we went and did that last summer. We came back and we were better than we were before. I think this year is no different. We’re going to go into the summer and work hard. We’re going to train. We have a bunch of guys in Toronto. We have a good facility here and a good staff. We’re going to come back stronger and better than we were last year.

Is there solace in that you were 20 minutes away, versus losing Game 7 decisively? It was there for the taking.

Hyman: It’s a big disappointment. It sucks. We battled back from 3-1 and we had a really good Boston team in a position where we had a chance to win that game. We were up. It hurts. It’s tough to dwell on the team because you drive yourself crazy. It stings and it’s going to sting for a while. Hopefully, we take a big lesson from that.

Your regular season was record setting. Looking back at the season, how do you term it? As a progression, a wash? How do you view the season?

Hyman: It’s tough to reflect on a season the day after you go out and you still have those feelings, I guess. Overall, we had a good season – a great regular season, set the point record, a lot of guys took steps and we got better as a team. We went to Game 7 against a really good team. You take things from that. You take stuff you can learn, and try to be better next year.

What is something you’re going to try to work on this summer?

Hyman: I think just handling the puck better – puck skills, maybe. Holding onto the puck. Just little things. You try to work on your speed and strength and all of that stuff. All of that I’ll continue to work on – my shot, and all of that stuff. But, yeah, if you’re able to handle the puck better, you’re able to make more plays.

Is that something you focused on last summer and took into this year?

Hyman: Definitely. Last summer, it was making plays also and being able to handle pucks in tight situations. In the NHL, you often times don’t have any time to really make a play. Guys are on you in a split-second. Being able to handle the puck a split second faster than you were able to handle the puck the year before will make a big difference. Any year that you play in the NHL, you become more confident and confident in yourself and your abilities. You’re able to shine through more. That’s something that is important for young guys. Every year, you try to get better.

Do you think you could’ve made that play on Rask last year?

Hyman: I don’t know. I think I could’ve. I think I was more confident this year and I was able to take the puck to the net with more confidence and make a move like that. That’s hard in the NHL. You’ve got to earn your confidence. But if you do it over time, the more time you’re in the league, the more confident you’ll be because you’ve been there before and done it before. Combine that with working hard in the summer and working on your skills, and you just try to get better.

The focus was on Jake Gardiner after Game 7 but he was critical in getting you to that point. What would you say about his performance in the series?

Hyman: I don’t really look at the media too often, but I saw a bunch of stuff about Jake. I just don’t think that it’s right. Jake is a great guy, a great teammate, and a huge part of our team and throughout the whole season in the playoffs to get us to where we were… a lot of that, I don’t know how that gets forgotten. People just forget about that, and I don’t think that’s right. I think he’s a huge part of our team.

He makes a lot of plays people can’t make. He’s got elite hockey IQ. When he has the puck, he makes plays people don’t see. When the play doesn’t work, he gets criticized, but he doesn’t really get the credit when the play is made. I don’t think that’s right. People were saying he was minus-5, but I think a lot of those goals were just stuff he didn’t have a part on, either.

To put the blame on him isn’t right at all. It’s a team game. We’re out there and everyone makes mistakes. I think that we’re all accountable. It’s not on one guy at all. That just really irked me when I saw that.

Do you expect more scrutiny next year after a couple of years with these young guys?

Hyman: Yeah. Every year, your expectations increase. Our first year, we didn’t have many expectations. We made the playoffs and it was a celebration. Everyone was happy. This year, there were more expectations and we made the playoffs, and everyone wanted us to make it out of Round 1, and that didn’t happen. Next year, there will be more expectations. Every year, you have expectations for yourself. And they grow. Your fan base expectations for you grow. The ultimate goal is to win. You’ve got to take steps to get there. It doesn’t grow over night. Every year, we’re going to try to get better. Every year, expectations are going to increase.