When discussing the Toronto Maple Leafs forward core, the usual names like Mitch Marner, Auston Matthews and John Tavares often come to mind first and foremost. While it's true that all the aforementioned players are elite offensive talents, there's one man who often flies under the radar of hockey pundits and fantasy hockey fans alike. Zach Hyman is often overlooked and under-appreciated, but most nights he is the catalyst for the Leafs' offense. 

Hyman certainly didn't have a traditional origin story. He was drafted all the way back in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft 123rd overall by the Florida Panthers. Hyman opted to attend the University of Michigan, where he would end up playing four full years for the Wolverines. After finishing his degree, he and the Panthers could not come to terms on a contract. The Panthers opted to trade his rights to Toronto for Greg McKegg. 

The 2015-16 marked Hyman's first year of professional hockey. He started off playing 59 games with a very strong Toronto Marlies squad. He managed to put up 15 goals and 22 assists for 37 points in total, and an impressive plus-31. His strong play was enough to earn him a trial run for the Maple Leafs. He played 16 games for the Leafs and posted just six points. The points were merely an afterthought though, as his excellent forechecking and penalty-killing abilities were put on full display.

At the end of March 2016, Hyman was loaned back to the Marlies so he could be part of their Calder Cup playoff run. The Marlies were considered one of the favorites to win the Calder that year, but fell in the Eastern Conference Finals to the Hershey Bears. Hyman chipped in six points during the playoff run, and despite breaking his nose in the Conference Finals, played in all 15 postseason contests. 

In the 2016-17 season Hyman made the team out of training camp and played all 82 games with the Leafs. He found himself in the very envious position of riding shotgun on a line with rookie Auston Matthews for almost the entire season. His hard-nose, grindy brand of hockey quickly endeared him to then-coach Mike Babcock who would often gush about Hyman in his post-game press conferences. He only put up 28 points on the year, but his job wasn't to bury goals. His puck pursuit skills were starting to stand out. Without Hyman battling it out in the corners and behind the net, there would be a lot less puck possession and scoring opportunities for guys like Matthews or William Nylander. 

Hyman was rewarded with his strong play in the offseason, inking a four-year, $9 million contract extension that would keep the hometown Toronto native around until the end of the 2020-21 season.  

The next season was more of the same for Hyman as he again found himself on a line with Matthews and Nylander more often than not. In 81 games he finished with 38 points, which was a 10-point improvement of the previous season. He maintained an average of just under two shots per game, which from a fantasy perspective isn't great, but it's something. What is impressive was the 116 hits he laid out on his opponents. His play was very dependable night in and night out. Despite being a very steady and reliable two-way player, there were still hopes Hyman hadn't hit his ceiling offensively. There also have been a fair share of doubters questioning whether Hyman should even be in the Leafs' top six. 

2018-19 was another year that showed marked improvements for Hyman. Despite a small setback that saw Hyman miss some time with a sprained ankle, he still managed a career-high 21 goals along with 20 assists in just 71 games. He also was shooting slightly more, which is always a great sign for fantasy owners. This also marked the first year he was split from Auston Matthews. He found himself playing with the newly appointed captain John Tavares and Mitch Marner. During the playoff series versus the Bruins, Hyman sustained a torn ACL and would undergo surgery following the playoffs. 

Without the services of Hyman for the first five weeks of the season, the Leafs stumbled out of the gate to start the campaign. A week after Hyman returned, the Leafs were in a full freefall and coach Mike Babcock was relieved of his duties in mid-November. This is noteworthy because the man who replaced him was none other than Marlies coach Sheldon Keefe. Keefe coached Hyman way back in 2015, and he knew exactly what he could bring to the team. Under Keefe, Hyman started getting some power-play deployment for the first time in his career.

Between being out for the start of the year, and the COVID-shortened season, Hyman only played in 51 contests this campaign, but his results were very encouraging. He matched his career best with 21 goals and added 16 assists for 37 points total. That's a 0.73 points per game which was by far the best in his career. At an 82-game pace, that's just a hair under a 60-point season. This was the first year you could legitimately consider potentially adding Hyman to your fantasy team. At a 60-point clip, with now having the added bonus of some power-play time to boot, Hyman was becoming an interesting speculatory add in many formats, and at the very least was a solid streaming option most weeks.

That brings us to the present day and it is the final year of Hyman's four-year contract. The Leafs may have a hard time re-signing their hometown stud in the offseason, but that's a problem for the summer. Through 35 games, Hyman finds himself with 12 goals and 12 assists for 24 points, and currently has eight points in his last eight games. He is once again on the top line now with Marner and Matthews as his two linemates. He is seeing an uptick in his power-play deployment, and is averaging 19:37 time-on-ice, which is third amongst all forwards on the team, and also the best of his career. As a nice added bonus, Hyman is shooting noticeably more, averaging 2.7 shots per game which is also a career best. 

Hyman is up to 73% owned in Yahoo leagues, which is probably right around where he should be. It definitely doesn't hurt that last week he gained right wing eligibility, giving him the rare trio-eligibility for forward positions. It's rare and super nice to have that kind of flexibility on your roster. Hyman won't be the offensive catalyst your team needs, but he has finally become strong enough not to be a deficiency for you and can certainly be a nice supplemental depth choice for your team. Add in a reasonably good number of shots, hits and even the occasional blocked shot every couple games and you've got yourself a stellar player for your fantasy team.