Edmonton Oilers' Zach Hyman gives positive update on his brutal wrist injury
With all the doom and gloom surrounding the Edmonton Oilers and Connor McDavid, it was nice to hear some good news from Zach Hyman.
Hyman spent the entire offseason recovering from a fractured wrist that he sustained in Game 4 of the Western Conference Final. The injury caused him to miss the entirety of last year’s Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers and required offseason surgery.
He was still in a brace during last month’s Team Canada Olympic camp, prompting some to think that he may miss the start of the season.
Hyman met with the media on Wednesday morning, where he appeared without a brace and gave a pretty positive outlook on his recovery, though he was hesitant to put a timetable on when he’ll be ready.
“I feel great, no more cast, moving great, won’t be ready for the day one of training camp, but progressing really, really well,” Hyman said. “I’ve had major surgery before with the knee, and whenever you set a timeline or date, you often get disappointed when you don’t hit that date.
“We have little two-week block milestones that we check off and that we hit, and right now, we are progressing very well.”
"I'm just excited for the year & being able to rejoin the guys."
Zach Hyman provides an update on his wrist injury & looks ahead to the upcoming #Oilers season.@Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/Zx5NQV1drA
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) September 17, 2025
The 33-year-old will not be present for the Oilers’ first on-ice sessions starting on Thursday, and it’s unclear if Hyman will be skating with the team at all. What he did reveal is that he has been skating on his own recently, which is a positive sign that he could be ready for opening night on Oct. 8.
“I’m on the ice. I’m skating, just not with the team yet,” Hyman said. “Now we’re in the stage of really pushing the envelope and building strength back into the wrist.
“Very confident that whatever date I return on, I’ll be back to normal and ready to go.”
Oilers GM Stan Bowman was also asked about Hyman and gave a similarly optimistic answer. It doesn’t appear that Hyman or the Oilers are all that concerned about the veteran’s availability to start the season.
“He’s not gonna miss much time, if he misses any,” Bowman said of Hyman. “I’m not worried about Zach Hyman… He’s gonna be a big player for us this year.”
Hyman is looking to recapture the magic of his 2023-24 campaign, where he managed to score 54 goals in 80 regular-season games and an additional 16 in 25 playoff games. Last year, he took a bit of a step back with 27 goals in 77 regular-season games and just five in 15 playoff games.
While age is set to become a concern for Hyman in the next few years, his production has said otherwise in recent seasons. We’ll see if he can overcome this injury for another impressive year in Edmonton.