Rumor: Leafs Zach Hyman dealing with an injury.

We will no doubt have to classify a lot of injury reports moving forward as rumor thanks in large part to the National Hockey League's decision to forbid teams from disclosing the injury/health status of their players during both Phase 3 and Phase 4 of the NHL's planned Return to Play.

The latest question raised by this deliberate lack of clarity surrounds the status of gritty Toronto Maple Leafs forward Zach Hyman, a player we suspect is dealing with at least a minor ailment. On Friday Hyman was doing some special teams work while practicing with his fellow Maple Leafs at training camp when he was struck in the leg by an errant puck. That shot to the leg was enough for Hyman to briefly sit out during that practice session but to be honest it was merely an afterthought at that point. Now however it seems that the shot in question may have caused a more serious issue, although it is possible that today's news is entirely unrelated, hence the classification as merely a rumor at this time.

Toronto Maple Leafs insider Jonas Siegel is now reporting that Hyman was absent from the Maple Leafs practice on Saturday morning and furthermore indicated that he was being replaced by Maple Leaf Nick Robertson who skated alongside forwards Auston Matthews and William Nylander. Now I must stress that Hyman could have been held out of practice today for any number of reasons, but it does seem likely that the two would be related given Hyman's reputation as a particularly tough competitor on and off the ice.