They always say home is where the heart is.
And Jake Walman’s heart was likely beating hard when he put pen to paper on that $49 million seven-year contract extension Tuesday to play on the Edmonton Oilers blueline. Finally some semblance of security for the 29-year-old who is at his fourth NHL stop, traded three times — from St. Louis, the team that originally drafted him, to Detroit for Nick Leddy, from Detroit to San Jose in a misguided salary dump, from San Jose to Edmonton for a first-round 2026 draft pick last March.
“I’m ecstatic I’m with this team for a while, and I got everything I wanted,” said Walman, who will be in a suit waving to the crowd for the home opener against Calgary Wednesday because he’s hurt with a minor upper-body issue, rather than in his No. 96 Oilers jersey alongside partner Darnell Nurse.
Often trade deadline deals are rentals. But Walman clearly wasn’t.
“You never know, stuff changes quickly. But when I got here, there was this feeling of a team, and it really is a team from top to bottom. Great leadership from the top down. And we have the support of a city that wants us to do really well,” said Walman, who has one year left at $3.4 million AAV, and now goes to $7 million.
Walman was played in obscurity in San Jose, a nowhere man on a rebuilding team in the draft lottery hunt, and suddenly he’s going to the Cup final where he says he learned something about himself. Yeah, he pinches himself at his good fortune.
“I think everybody’s blindsided when you get traded,” he said.
“But I can say I was very happy to know it was here. I got a text right away from Connor and Leon. And I know Zach,” he said.
“Only people in my close circle would know the battles that puts you through,“ he said about the series of trades. “I think I’m meant to be here. I don’t have to do too much. I just have to be myself. I don’t have to be something I’m not.”
Walman had eight points in 15 games after the trade, then 10 more in the playoffs in 22 games.
Walman is a left shot but he relishes playing the right, and will with Nurse.
“Growing up I’ve gone back and forth, never really liked one side over the other. As long as I’m in one spot consistently, it’s easy,” said Walman.
McDavid is certainly a fan.
“He’s fit in really well. Moves well, shoots well, big body. It’s a tough ask to play your offside. He has the ability to do that and that’s important,” said McDavid, who shocked the hockey world with his two-year, $25-million extension Tuesday.
Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch says he didn’t know Walman much before the trade, other than he could skate and make plays, no surprise with San Jose being a bottom-dweller and the Oilers having the puck most of the nights.
“But when Jake got here I was really impressed with his commitment to playing defence, how he would sacrifice his body to block shots. Just shows he’s a good all-around defencemen. It’s in his job description.”
The Oilers back end is the strength of the team when you get past the all-world McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, the best tag team at centre in hockey. They may not have Norris trophy winner Cale Makar or the gifted Quinn Hughes on their back end, but they’ve got Evan Bouchard, who could be on Canada’s Olympic blueline, Mattias Ekholm, Nurse, Walman and Brett Kulak in their top five with Troy Stecher, Ty Emberson and rookie Alec Regula in the 6-7-8 roles.
No other team is that deep.
“When you think of the identity of our team you immediately think of Connor and Leon and there’s lots of things we’re good at, penalty-kill, power play, five-on-five, but a big part of this is our defence. We feel it’s as good a group as any in the NHL, if not better. We’ve got seven or eight defencemen who can move up and down the lineup if we lose somebody to injury,” said Knoblauch.
Regula, the surprise of training camp, will open alongside Nurse with Walman missing at least the first game. This is a quantum leap for Regula, who missed all of last season rehabbing from 2024 knee surgery.
The medical staff and the therapists worked OT on his knee behind the scenes with some setbacks and, as Regula says, “some dark days,” but here is now.
The six-foot-four, 211-pound right-shot defenceman waiver claim last December from Boston, a footnote in history, will be in the opening lineup against Calgary.
Never in Knoblauch’s wildest dreams did he expect this after not seeing Regula in a single game last season, and just a few skates, right? Well, not totally.
“I think it’s the same as Noah Philp last year. He took a year off from hockey, then came to our camp and was in the conversation to be in the lineup for the first game,” said Knoblauch, who didn’t play him last fall but will have Philp centring for Vasily Podkolzin and Kasperi Kapanen against the Flames.
“Alec was in the same situation as Noah. We felt eventually he could be in our lineup but not on Day 1. But he put in the work and he’ll play the first game,” he said.
“He’s big, uses his body well. He’s not overly physical, looking for the big hit, but he’s got a good head on his shoulders, reading the play,” said Knoblauch.
“He can provide us some offence, getting the puck into the forwards’ hands, not just glass and out. Yeah, it’s early. He’s only played exhibitions and things can change. Sometimes you see the best from a player in camp and they fall out, but we feel very confident in Alec’s game,” said Knoblauch.
David Tomasek was on the ice Tuesday on a 3A or 3B line, with centre Adam Henrique just seven games from the magic 1,000, and Curtis Lazar at practice, but Lazar was a placeholder for left wing Ike Howard. Tomasek and Howard were both sent to Bakersfield in a paper transaction Monday but both will play Wednesday, flanking Henrique. It will be Howard’s first NHL league game.
This ‘n that: The Oilers are starting with the maximum 23 players, two goalies, eight defencemen and 13 forwards. For now, Mattias Janmark is on injured reserve with a lower body issue for one to two weeks, and Zach Hyman, still rehabbing from wrist surgery, was put on long term injured reserve. Hyman has to sit out a minimum of 10 games and 24 days before he can be back in the lineup. He wasn’t skating with the team Tuesday but Knoblauch said he might do so this week in a non-contact jersey. When Janmark returns, that will give them 24 players (14 forwards) and one player will likely have to go to Bakersfield. When Hyman is back, they will be two bodies over the max … The Flames won’t have injured winger Jonathan Huberdeau for the first game … Former Oilers forward Milan Lucic, at Blues’ camp on a tryout, looking for a fourth-line spot, didn’t make their opening roster but they may put him on another PTO when healthy after some groin issues in exhibition season … The Oilers do not have the oldest average age roster in the NHL any longer. They’re 29.1, with Pittsburgh, Florida, Winnipeg, Vegas and — drum roll — Los Angeles (29.9) rounding out the bottom six.