Heading into the trade deadline, a Cult of Hockey poll found 67 per cent of respondents felt acquiring a new goalie was the top priority, with 27 per cent focusing on a defenceman.
It turns out that the Oilers went with the minority vote, bringing in a new d-man, Jake Walman, as their top deadline acquisition. Reviews are now in for Walman’s first game with the Oilers, Saturday’s 5-4 win over the Dallas Stars, and the consensus is that Walman excelled.
He did all that was asked of him and more, passing like a maestro and hitting like a demon, while teaming up with veteran Darnell Nurse to effectively defend, so much so that Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch trusted the newcomer to help kill the clock in the game’s final minutes.
Here’s a sampling of the enthusiastic response to Walman’s play from NHL pundits:
Former NHLer Rob Brown on the Got Yer Back podcast
He’s smart. He’s a beautiful skater. Like he’s effortless when he skates. He just kind of floats out there. He sees the ice very well. At the end of the first period, he was in between the intermission with (Radio 880’s) Bob (Stauffer) and Mooner (Cam Moon). And he talked about the goal that he set up. He said, ‘I came around the net, I had my head up and I’m looking to make a play.’ That’s a great thing to hear from a defenseman. That he’s not just coming around the net trying to get away from somebody. He’s actually thinking about where he can put the puck.
This was a game without Ekholm. They needed players to step up. Nurse, Walman stepped up. They took ice time away from Bouchard. I didn’t see Bouchard out in the last five, six minutes of this game. Bouchard only played, I think, five minutes in the third period. They played Walman.
Kelly Hrudey, Hockey Night in Canada
Like most guys, they’re a little bit nervous when you play your first game with the team. I thought the first period wasn’t his best, but he certainly had a lot of energy and he’s got a lot of try in his game. And I thought in the second period starting to get a lot better. And then the third, I thought he was excellent. Lot of cases, he had that great shot block in the last minute or so from that shot on the flank. So there’s tons to build off. I mean, everybody knows he’s a really good player.”
Kevin Bieksa, Hockey Night in Canada
Two things I noticed. To your what you said, Kelly, nervous. He toe-picked twice. He’s a good skater. Like you don’t toe pick in the NHL unless there’s something off there, nervous or jittery. And then when Dallas finally called their time out with a goalie pulled, who went over the boards? Walman and Nurse. So already they look at him as a guy with a one goal game, goalie pulled, and they’re putting him out there, deploying him and maybe with Ekholm there, that’s different. But that’s a lot of trust early on, first game, 25 minutes. That’s a lot of trust from a team. That’s a team that believes in you.
Bruce McCurdy, The Cult of Hockey Podcast
Jake Wallman made a very, very, very good first impression as an Edmonton Oiler with an assist, +3, in 24 minutes and 40 seconds, playing on the first pairing tonight with Darnell Nurse. Those guys really stepped up in the absence of Mattias Ekholm and to a lesser degree, John Klingberg, and were given the tough, the big minutes and the toughest assignments, and they came through on top, +3 for each player. But I thought Walman in particular was very impressive.
On the second goal… he came up over his own blue line, looked up and saw Zach Hyman sprinting through the neutral zone, and made one of those beautiful lob passes that I’ve always loved since Paul Coffey used to do it.
Elliotte Friedman, Hockey Night in Canada
I think it’s a really good sign, but in this first game, he’s that physical, he’s that effective, and he’s called upon the last minute.
TSN’s Ryan Rishaug on the Got Yer Back podcast
I love the defensive play he made at the end of the game where he took the one-on-one rush. He made a play at the puck, but dropped the guy, like put the guy down. And I just thought that defensive detail, right at a critical moment in the game, I liked that he wasn’t afraid to be physical in that moment and put a guy down… It was a fantastic first night… What an incredible take from Hyman. He had to knock it, knock it down. But that wasn’t just a normal saucer pass. (Walman) almost put like a bit of, I don’t know, different sort of English on that, on that puck as he flipped it up ice. It’s almost like he put a different spin on it or something, but what a pass!
Jason Strudwick, Got Yer Back podcast
For him to see in that moment where Hyman stretched into and all that, he throws that pass and it’s a really cool play. That’ll be in his highlight reel. So yeah, that’s great for him… What I liked was just when he passes it, he seems to rip it. Now, obviously that was a different pass, but there’s some pace to his passing. And I think that’s really important. So that was a really cool moment, saw it, that he saw that play. But his rest of his passes, I just like there’s a pace to it. And I like pace because it gives a guy on the other end of that pass more time to do what he has to do with it.
McCurdy, The Cult of Hockey Podcast
He had a very feature moment when he stepped up to the Dallas blueline and absolutely crushed Mikko Rantanen, his fellow number 96, with a booming, booming check at the Dallas blueline. Just open ice, hit him right in the breastbone, basically with the shoulder pad. Perfect hit, and Rantinen was sort of going, ‘Hey, you’re not allowed to hit me.’ He kronwalled Rantanen.
My take
1. Walman made an outstanding first impression. He’s everything and more that I was hoping John Klingberg would become for the Oilers, a defensively sound player with a penchant for ripping endless smart passes and the occasional brilliant one. The hit on Rantanen was an unexpected bonus.
2. Walman is an Oilers because the team and Evander Kane finally figured out their dispute, with Kane and the Oilers sagely deciding to bring him back when he’s fully healthy, at some point in the playoffs. This opened up cap space for Walman.
3. Like the majority in the Cult of Hockey vote, I preferred a goalie as the top priority at the deadline, but not to be. At the same time, Walman looks like just what the Oilers need on defence. I greatly prefer his game to that of a slower-moving, weaker-passing cycle buster. He’s exactly the right fit for Nurse. With Nurse having turned around his game, we’ll now have two pairings battling to see which is the best pair on the Oilers, and we’ll have one strong pairing each to team up with the McDavid and Draisaitl lines.
4. Walman’s arrival also changes the dynamic on the bottom-pairing. We could well see Brett Kulak and Ty Emberson team up, but if the Oilers decide that they want to focus on possession and passing, Klingberg and Kulak might be the third-pairing. In any case, with Kulak, Emberson, Klingberg and Stecher, the Oilers now have strong depth on the blueline.
5. They key for Edmonton as a team is to play a fast and aggressive puck possession game, while giving up few chances on the rush. It’s those rush chances where Edmonton’s top goalie Stuart Skinner stumbles. Walman looks like he can do both, help move the puck fast and smartly while making the right moves to prevent rush chances.
So, yes, he can help move the playoff needle, at least if first impressions hold true.
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