Why Edmonton Oilers' new defenceman Jake Walman is a perfect fit
One of the things Edmonton Oilers management has excelled in during recent seasons is deadline acquisitions of quality defencemen.
Stan Bowman's first deadline saw Jake Walman arrive in a deal with the San Jose Sharks. Early results suggest he will join an impressive group of blueliners who have boosted the Oilers upon arrival at the trade deadline. Previous acquisitions include current Oilers defencemen Mattias Ekholm and Brett Kulak.
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Now that Walman is here, and performing well, the question surrounds where to deploy him on the roster. The injury to Ekholm made the decision easy early on, but Ekholm returned for the game on Tuesday night versus the Utah Hockey Club. What's next?
Fans have been discussing Walman's ideal spot in the lineup since the trade.
On Tuesday night, with Ekholm back in action, coach Kris Knoblauch enjoyed an embarrassment of riches. He ran Walman with Darnell Nurse for 12:40 five-on-five, the duo outscoring Utah 1-0 with a 50 percent shot share.
Here are the numbers for Walman through six games:
All numbers five-on-five, via Natural Stat Trick
Through 105 total minutes, Knoblauch had deployed Walman as a front-line defender. His primary defensive partners were the best available with Ekholm on the shelf. The results are impressive no matter his partner.
Fans and observers can know much about a specific veteran who has played in the league for years, but the close attention Walman has received since his arrival in Edmonton is on a completely different level.
A more critical eye in the hockey world may not exist. Oilers fans have high expectations of this team.
So far, the player has delivered and then some. Walman brings several above average skills that make him an attractive addition to Edmonton's defence:
According to NHL Edge, Walman's top skating speed (35.55 kph) is in the 66th percentile leaguewide. He also delivers strong numbers in speed bursts and skating distance.
Among current Oilers regulars, Walman's top skating speed is a doppelganger for Nurse (35.45 kph) and indicates just how significant a pairing of Walman and Nurse could be during the coming playoffs this spring.
His shot speed is in the 95th percentile, again as per NHL Edge, and he joins an impressive and varied group of shooters on the Oilers blue line.
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One of the best ways to evaluate pairings is via expected goals. The expected goals formula estimates the chances of each shot resulting in success, evaluating multiple factors in the process. An exceptional (and lengthy) explanation is here.
The idea is to take luck out of the equation (as much as possible) and give a more accurate view of each singular scoring opportunity. Hockey is a difficult game to evaluate (it's a series of broken plays); expected goals give us a more accurate view of what's going on.
Walman has been an Oilers defenceman for very little time, so the sample is small. With that understood, here are Edmonton's top 10 defensive pairings in 2024-25 (at five-on-five) using expected goals:
All numbers five-on-five, excluding Thursday night's game
The Ekholm-Bouchard pairing runs like a finely tuned engine and has proven it in enormous minutes. A pairing that delivers those impressive results is a foundation piece of the roster.
Bowman acquired Walman in hopes of creating a second pairing that could approach the goal share of Ekholm-Bouchard.
Enter Walman, with Nurse the likely defensive partner.
On the list of pairings above, Nurse can be found in several places. His primary partner (Troy Stecher) is playing second-pair minutes without being a bona fide top-four defenceman. The results are good, but the gap in expected goal share between the top pair (Ekholm-Bouchard) and Nurse-Stecher is significant.
It's a game-changer.
Oilers fans universally love Kulak on the third pair, and endorse his fine work with Nurse on the second pair. With Walman on the depth chart, the coach can run with the duo that's working best at the time.
Early results suggest Nurse and Walman are the second pair in Edmonton.
Beyond five-on-five, Walman has been deployed for well over two minutes a game on the penalty kill, delivering solid results. He's also seen power-play time, but that's likely as a result of Ekholm's roster absence.
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In the exciting game against Winnipeg on Thursday night, Nurse and Walman were high event (2-2 goals, Walman had some chaos in his game early) in a playoff-style tilt. The expected goals was 70 percent.
Overall, the ice is tilted in a good direction with Walman on the ice.
Edmonton has two top-flight pairings and an outstanding third-pairing defender in Kulak. It's been years, at least 15, since the club boasted this kind of quality and depth on defence.
Bowman delivered in his first deadline, just as Ken Holland did in past years with Ekholm, Kulak and others. Despite the small sample, it's obvious targeting Walman was an astute move by Edmonton's general manager.
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