Getty Zach Hyman, Edmonton Oilers
In the face of mounting criticism over his viral video lambasting the media’s coverage of Zach Hyman’s 50-goal season for the Edmonton Oilers, hockey writer Andrew Berkshire is refusing to back down.
In a March 26 TikTok video, which had 6.8 million views on X as of the morning of March 28, Berkshire took aim at the narrative of Hyman’s hard work leading to his accomplishments as an NHL player, instead attributing Hyman’s success to the fact that he grew up “insanely rich.”
Berkshire faced immediate backlash on social media, including from some former players.
Bobby Ryan, a 2015 All-Star with the Ottawa Senators, called Berkshire’s narrative “purely false.”
“As someone who has maybe lived on both ends of the ‘financial edge,’ I can say this is just purely false,” Ryan tweeted. “Who cares, he accomplished a feat not many do and to downplay the way it’s reported is just wrong. You show up, do the work, good things happen.”
Radio host and former journeyman player Carlos Colaiacovo called Berkshire’s stance “ridiculous.”
“Let me tell you something Andrew. You can’t buy your way to the NHL,” Colaiacovo tweeted. “You definitely can’t buy your way to having the career Hyman has had which includes scoring 50. Pretty ridiculous thing to say.”
And Jonathan Goodman, who claims he was Hyman’s personal trainer in high school, came to the defense of Hyman and his work ethic.
“Yes, he had advantages. His family was wealthy and father obsessed with his success,” Goodman said. “But the dude worked hard. Harder than anybody I’ve ever seen.”
@AndrewBerkshire Did Hyman not sign an autograph for you one time?
Berkshire Discounts Historic Achievement That Puts Hyman in Esteemed Company
Berkshire, who works as an analyst and host with the Steve Dangle Podcast Network, went on to say that Hyman’s parents bought a league to “guarantee him playing time,” and that he did “exclusive training that only a rich person … could afford.”
“The story that’s being sold right now — is that, you know, if you work hard, if you stick to it, you can get there too, 31-year-old guy finally hits the 50-goal mark, harder worker, all that,” Berkshire said in his March 26 TikTok video. “Yeah, great, except you’re missing the part of the story where Zach Hyman grew up insanely rich.”
In media, we have a responsibility to tell stories, but too often they’re just not honest. The narrative around Zach Hyman’s first 50-goal season for example, erases the real reason it was possible. It wasn’t just hard work. Follow me on tiktok and instagram, for more.
After public outcry, Berkshire doubled down with a second video just over an hour later further explaining his original thoughts about Hyman, the media and privilege in the sport of hockey – and it only seemed to make matters worse.
In his second video, Berkshire used a hand-drawn chart made with colored markers to illustrate the breakdown of the Canadian population into class tiers based on income. Without any statistics to support his claim, Berkshire went on to state that most NHL players came from the top tiers of the chart.
Hyman’s Goal Put Him in Rare Company
Only 100 players in NHL history have reached the 50-goal mark in a single season. Hyman achieved the feat on March 24 in Ottawa – and he did it at age 31. A fifth-round pick in the 2010 NHL draft who didn’t make his debut until 2016, Hyman had never topped 36 goals in a single season before this one.
At one point in his first video, Berkshire did acknowledge that Hyman worked hard to reach the milestone; but he went on to discredit that hard work almost immediately.
“Everybody works hard,” Berkshire said. “You think every NHLer didn’t get there by working hard? Let’s not build this stupid narrative of ‘work hard, you’ll succeed.’ It’s just not true. There are people who’ve worked as hard as Zach Hyman their entire lives and never got a sniff of the American Hockey League, let alone the NHL because they didn’t have the advantages he had.”
Hyman went on to score his 51st goal of the season in overtime against the Winnipeg Jets on March 26, the same day Berkshire posted his videos. Hyman now has goals in four straight games and eight in his last seven.