- Zach Hyman is fired up to reunite with new Oilers coach Mike Babcock
- Hyman played five seasons under Babcock in Toronto and calls him a phenomenal fit
- Read below for what Hyman said on Oilers Now and why he is not worried
Zach Hyman cannot wait to play for Mike Babcock again.
Most of the Oilers are walking into next season with no idea what the Babcock experience feels like. Hyman is not one of them. He spent his first five NHL seasons under Babcock in Toronto, and he sounds genuinely fired up to run it back in Edmonton.
He joined Oilers Now with Bob Stauffer on Tuesday and laid out what his teammates should expect:
“I think [Babcock] does a really good job in teaching,” Hyman said. “He’s first and foremost a very good teacher, and when you’re out on the ice, there’s no grey. It’s very black and white. You know exactly what you need to do, you know exactly what your role is, you know exactly how you need to impact the game.”
Watch Hyman’s full sit-down with Stauffer:
The clarity matters most for the depth guys, in Hyman’s eyes.
“That kind of simplicity really helps guys lower in the lineup,” he said. “He’s able to provide that structure and that accountability from top to bottom, and I think it’s really going to be good for our group.”
Babcock’s reputation for riding his players hard is well known. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl even sat down with him before Edmonton hired him last month to hear it straight.
Hyman came away from the whole process sold.
“Having played for Babs, I was familiar with him, and I think that interview process was really good,” he said. “Everything resonated, and it’s a phenomenal fit.”
He also pointed to the offseason as proof the Babcock worry is overblown. Frederik Andersen and Kasperi Kapanen both played for Babcock in Toronto, and both chose to sign up for him again in Edmonton.
“I think it speaks volumes that you have guys coming back like Freddy Andersen and [Kapanen],” Hyman said. “I played with those guys under Babs, and they had great experiences too, obviously, to willingly choose to come back.”
The last time Hyman played for Babcock, he was a young winger trying to stick in Toronto. He shows up to this reunion as one of Edmonton’s most important forwards.
