Walman proving his worth with Oilers
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Last June, the Detroit Red Wings traded defenceman Jake Walman to the San Jose Sharks.
Having grown impatient with his development and looking for cap flexibility, the Red Wings even paid the Sharks a second-round pick just to absorb Walman’s contract. The return? Future considerations.
Fast forward one year, and Walman is eight wins from seeing his name engraved on the Stanley Cup with the Edmonton Oilers. And what a worthy engravement it would be. Because through two rounds, this under-the-radar trade-deadline acquisition has been one of the most impactful defenders of the playoffs.
The Oilers moved on Walman and his expiring contract at the cost of Carl Berglund and a conditional first-round pick, looking to shore up their blueline depth and add offensive firepower in the process. Walman’s passing and playmaking from the back end would figure to be a weapon behind Edmonton’s deadly attackers. Once Mattias Ekholm was sidelined with an undisclosed injury on April 11, opportunity knocked for Walman.
To say the Oilers have been dominant in Walman’s minutes (against Los Angeles in round one, and Vegas in round two) might understate things. Yes, Walman’s played extensively with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, the ultimate performance-juicers.
But Walman has been just as productive without them, and that is what has made the Oilers a force this postseason:
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Walman has looked expectedly great in his paired minutes with Evan Bouchard, but his ability to elevate John Klingberg and form another credible defensive pairing is more impressive. Perhaps just as importantly, Walman is not relying on extreme shooting percentage or save percentage variance to drive these big on-ice goal differentials.
Expected goal rates, blind to the performance of both goaltenders on the ice, suggest Walman’s play is meaningfully additive. Walman seems to thrive independent of which forwards or defenders he’s playing with right now; his teammates, however, see a meaningful drop-off in their performance when separated from Walman.
What will be interesting to monitor for round three is where Walman draws in once Ekholm returns and the Ekholm/Bouchard pairing is inevitably reunited. Do you keep him in a rotation with Klingberg, or move Walman to a pairing with a player like Darnell Nurse? Those two saw time together late in the regular season and he might be able to insulate a player like Nurse, who has struggled this year.
This taps into a broader, seemingly decade-long discussion about the importance of adequate depth in Edmonton. The McDavid and Draisaitl lines are going to win their minutes, by and large. What you can’t have is a team giving those goals back in the 65 per cent of minutes they are off the ice. Moreover, puck movers like Walman when paired with an attacker like McDavid or Draisaitl can remarkably be additive — the less defensive and transition work 97 and 29 have to shoulder, the better it is for everyone.
And make no mistake, this will be a critical theme again in round three. The breadth and depth of playing talent the Dallas Stars possess is as good as you’ll find in the league.
Edmonton cannot advance against an opponent this calibre solely on the backs of their big guns. The Stars purposely split Miro Heiskanen and Thomas Harley to form two quality defensive pairings, and just look at how freakishly balanced their top nine is since the Mikko Rantanen acquisition:
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A scary opponent unquestionably, but Edmonton has already eliminated them once in a Western Conference Final. Walman and the Oilers will look to go back to back, starting Wednesday night.
Enjoy round three.
Data via Natural Stat Trick, NHL.com, Evolving Hockey, Hockey Reference