It was a roster addition to the Oilers that few saw coming.

In early March of this year, General Stan Bowman engineered a deal with the San Jose Sharks. He sent a conditional First Round pick in 2026 and throw-in Carl Berglund in exchange for twenty-nine-year-old Jake Walman.

There had been very little indication the 6’1 218 LB Walman had even been on the market at all. Having come over from Detroit in the previous offseason, the left-shot defender was enjoying a breakout offensive season with the Sharks. At acquisition time, he was 6-26-32 in just 50 GP. Walman added 1-7-8 in 15 GP in Edmonton at the end of the regular season, then contributed another 2-8-10 in 22 postseason GP.

Walman made an immediate impression upon arrival in Edmonton. Advertised as a D-man with offensive chops, Walman was surely that but delivered a much more well-rounded product on the ice. Those attributes particularly shone in the post-season, when Walman really blossomed. He added PK work to his game and turned into a highly effective shot blocker, too. Walman also demonstrated the ability to almost effortlessly switch from the left side to the right, even in-game. Valuable, that.

In short: What a find! Especially at $3.4m. And with a full year left on his ticket to boot, Walman not due to become a UFA until the end of the 2025-26 season. It was excellent value.

So, what may be ahead?

Well, I project Jake Walman to play regular second-pairing minutes 5v5 in 2025-26. And with John Klingberg departed, Walman now figures to be a permanent fixture on the Oilers second power play unit. And if (god forbid) injury were to strike Evan Bouchard, one would think that Walman would be a prime candidate to fill in on the top unit for him. It is not that Darnell Nurse or Mattias Ekholm could not contribute in that PP spot. But Walman is a more complete power play package than either of them. He transports better than Ekholm, passes better than Nurse, shoots as well or better than both and also walks the line in the attacking zone better than anyone except Bouchard.

In addition to all that, I would suggest that Mattias Ekholm (who will be thirty-six in the spring) can probably continue to be a highly effective defender if the Oilers watch his ice time a little more carefully. Ekholm is more valuable on the PK anyway. And Darnell Nurse has proven more effective around 22:00 than 25:00 regular season minutes.

It is entirely possible that Jake Walman sees a regular diet of second-pairing duty alongside Nurse and logs 22:00-23:00 a night. That would make him a top fifty NHL D-man. And that being the case, Edmonton would be wise to extend him before the season even starts. His player type would be sought after by other clubs. He would probably be a top-pairing guy on a few teams.

What might that extension look like? Brandon Montour is a 40-point guy and makes $7m. Neal Pionk is also in the 40-range at $7m. Noah Hanafin is at $7.3m, too. And all those players are right around Walman’s age, too. Hmmm.

Given his age and experience Jake Walman is probably at his peak. But with his excellent wheels it is reasonable to think he may be able to stay at this level for another two years or even three.

What exactly that is worth, especially with the cap going up again next year, will be a critical project in Stan Bowman’s summer.

Now on Bluesky @kurtleavins.bsky.social. Also, find me on Threads @kleavins, Twitter @KurtLeavins, Instagram at LeavinsOnHockey, and Mastodon at KurtLeavins@mstdn.social.

This article is not AI generated.

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Bruce McCurdy, 1955-2025.

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