‘I knew it wasn’t good’: Oilers’ Zach Hyman says he suffered a dislocated wrist

When Zach Hyman was hit awkwardly by Dallas Stars forward Mason Marchment in Game 4, he suffered a dislocated wrist and torn ligaments, he confirmed Wednesday.

The Edmonton Oilers winger — heartbroken over an inability to help contribute on the ice in the Stanley Cup Final — spoke to the media hours ahead of Game 1 against the Florida Panthers.

“I knew it wasn’t good when I got hit,” he said. “As a player, you know when something’s not right, and right away, I just felt my wrist kind of go on me. Even then, you still think whatever it is you’ll be able to play through it, or there will be a chance you could play through it.

“I’m not going to go into the details, but quickly realized when I saw the doctors it was something that needed surgery and something that I wasn’t going to be able to play through. I still think I’m a little delusional that I could play through it until after the surgery.”

“The wrist was dislocated, so a lot goes into that — ligaments, and breaks and whatever else. I don’t want to get too nitty gritty,” he added. “I should be back at the start of next year, but I don’t want to put a timetable on it.”

Hyman was amid a great run in the playoffs for the Oilers, scoring five goals and 11 points in 15 games, finding a new element to his game: his physicality.

He had laid 111 hits before his injury, on pace to not only break the hits record in a single postseason (Blake Coleman, 2019-20, 126 hits in 25 games), but completely smash it having already played in 15 games.

Now? It’s gone from player Zach Hyman to coach Zach Hyman.

“Players do that a lot, right? When you’re playing, you’re often diagnosing the game afterwards with your teammates, figure out what’s working, what’s not working,” he said. “We all have a different perspective. I’ll be watching from up top and if I see something, I’ll definitely be talking to them. It’s going to be all hockey for the next two weeks.

“It’s nice to get my mind off the wrist.”

With Hyman out, Corey Perry slid up to the top line alongside Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, also replacing him on the top power play unit, which is expected to remain the same for Game 1 Wednesday night.

The game starts at 6:00 pm MT.