Oilers’ Hyman says his right wrist was dislocated late last round, knocking him out of the playoffs

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) - Zach Hyman said Wednesday his right wrist got dislocated late last round, an injury that is sidelining one of the Edmonton Oilers’ most valuable forwards for the Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers.

Hyman sported a brace on his right arm after undergoing surgery last week to repair the damage caused by a hit from Dallas’ Mason Marchment in Game 4 of the Western Conference final.

"I knew it wasn't good when I got hit," Hyman said. "Right away, I just felt my wrist kind of go on me. … Quickly realized when I saw the doctors it's something that needed surgery and something that I wasn't going to be able to play through."

Hyman memorably said after the Oilers’ Game 7 loss to Florida last year that he believed they would be back in the final. In a cruel twist of fate, his teammates are, but the 33-year-old winger is not able to play in the series.

Win it for Hyman has quickly becoming a rallying cry for Edmonton.

"Missing him is big; he's a huge piece of this team," veteran Adam Henrique said.” His physicality, net-front presence, in the locker room - all those sorts of things. Just a great person, so we're certainly going to miss him on the ice but he'll be there and we'll certainly fight for him.”

Oilers players video-called Hyman after beating the Stars without him in Game 5 of the West final to move on to compete for the Stanley Cup again. He said that meant the world to him.

"It caught me off guard," Hyman said. "I was crying. It was really emotional. You just feel so much a part of the team and for them to do that in that moment meant a lot."

Hyman is expected to be around the team throughout the final, flying to Florida and providing whatever insight and moral support he can without lacing up his skates. He called it "acting like I'm playing but obviously not."

"Some things in life you can't control," Hyman said, "and this is one of them."

The Panthers are mostly healthy, but they ruled out A.J. Greer for Game 1 of the Cup final with an undisclosed injury. Jesper Boqvist takes his place in the lineup.

"It's important that, fortunately for us, it's not his first time in the playoffs, so he hasn't been sitting for a long time and he's had some pretty good success when he's come in," coach Paul Maurice said of Greer. "And he fits. He's spent time with all of those players. There's nothing new for him, so he can come in and just play."

Edmonton is getting a key player back with Connor Brown expected to be back after missing two games because of injury. Coach Kris Knoblauch called the strong two-way winger a game-time decision, while Brown declared himself good to go and all signs pointed to nothing standing in the way of a return.

"He's been playing great all playoffs," linemate Trent Frederic said. "He brings a lot of energy, brings a lot of swagger, a lot of jam, so we're excited to get him back."

Jeff Skinner, who played more than 1,000 regular-season NHL games in his career before making his Stanley Cup Playoff debut in the series opener in the first round and then got scratched until replacing Hyman against Dallas, appears to be out to make room for Brown.