Jake Walman arrived in Edmonton and made an immediate splash. A huge hit on Mikko Rantanen in his debut.
A go-ahead goal in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final. By the end of the 2024-25 season, he had gone from deadline pickup to key piece for the Oilers.
That first stretch in Edmonton was as strong as it looked on the surface. In 37 regular-season and playoff games with the Oilers, Walman put up 18 points, finished at plus-14, and logged more than 20 minutes a night.
At five-on-five, the puck stayed on Edmonton’s side of the ledger too, with the Oilers controlling roughly 55 per cent of expected goals and high-danger chances while he was on the ice. That run helped set up a seven-year, $49-million extension in October 2025, even though he still had another year left on his deal.
But the story has shifted since then. Now 30, Walman hasn’t looked like the same player, and the question hanging over him is whether this is just a slow start or something more troubling for Edmonton.
Through four games this season, he has not recorded a point and has averaged under 15 minutes of ice time per game. The rough patch got worse in the Oilers’ 5-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Oct. 7, when he picked up another injury setback and missed Edmonton’s last three games. He is expected back in the lineup Saturday against the Utah Mammoth.
The numbers back up the eye test. At five-on-five, the Oilers have controlled just 42.7 per cent of expected goals and 25 per cent of high-danger scoring chances with Walman on the ice. His reduced usage has reflected that uneven play, and during Edmonton’s second game of the season, head coach Mike Babcock briefly benched him.
Asked the next day about his standard for accountability and ice time, Babcock said, “I try and play the guys that are playing best.”
Walman didn’t dodge it, either. After the game, he said, “Nobody wants to correct their mistakes more than the guy that’s on the ice, and that’s me.”
There’s a longer trail of concern behind the slow start. Last season, he was limited to 53 games because of injuries and finished with 20 points and a career-worst minus-17 rating. His five-on-five underlying results dipped sharply from the year before, with the Oilers outchanced and controlling just 46 per cent of expected goals while he was on the ice.
The individual numbers were even harsher. HockeyStats.com had Walman in the first percentile in defensive wins above replacement, putting him among the league’s worst-rated blueliners in estimated individual defensive impact. To be fair, a chunk of those minutes came on his off-side next to Darnell Nurse, a setup that may have played a part in the difficult season.
Durability is part of the picture too. In his NHL career, Walman has never played more than 65 games in a season, and since joining Edmonton he has missed about a third of the team’s regular-season games.
That matters for a player carrying a $7 million cap hit.
There’s still a path back to the version of Walman Edmonton saw at his best. Babcock put it plainly: “He’s too good a player to not be at the top of his game.”
The Oilers know what he can be when he’s right. Even in a season that went sideways, his shot and puck-moving ability through all three zones still gave Edmonton something it could use.
But the leash is shorter now. With Mattias Ekholm still playing at a high level despite his age and newcomer Ryan Shea off to an impressive start, Walman has work to do to earn a bigger role.
For now, he is set to return against Utah in a third-pairing role beside Ty Emberson.
It’s early, but the concern is real. Walman has shown enough in Edmonton to prove he can matter when he’s at his best. If the Oilers want another deep postseason run, they’ll need that version of him back.
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The latest start only added to the sense that the Oilers have options now, which is a very different place for this group to be. Jarry did allow two goals against Utah, but he still came up with timely stops and helped Edmonton come away with the win, leaving the coaching staff with a real decision to make as multiple goalies are performing well. [Read more 🡒]