Zach Hyman appears likely to leave the Maple Leafs in free agency
It looks like @Zach Hyman has played his last game as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
According to The Athletic’s James Mirtle, the Leafs and Hyman haven’t had any substantial talks on a new contract…
“In fact, it feels downright unlikely anything is going to get done.
Multiple sources said they didn’t believe any talks of substance had happened, going back months. No progress was made on extension talk at any point, really, going back to when Hyman first became eligible for a new deal last year.”
Hyman will be eligible to hit the market as an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career in late July. After putting up 21 goals in back-to-back seasons in 2018-19 and 2019-20, Hyman had yet another productive season for the Leafs in 2021, scoring 15 goals and 33 points in 43 games.
Mirtle lists Montreal’s @Josh Anderson, who inked a seven-year, $38.5 million deal last October, as a comparable for Hyman.
With $38 million already tied up to @Auston Matthews, @Mitch Marner, @John Tavares, and @William Nylander, Hyman would need to take a hometown discount in order to fit into Toronto’s tight salary cap situation.
The Leafs will also need to address their forward depth and their goaltending this off-season. Kyle Dubas has stated that he won’t be trading away any of the aforementioned “core four,” meaning Hyman is most certainly going to be the odd man out.