Jake Walman is about to become a bigger piece of the Edmonton Oilers’ blue line, and the timing couldn’t be more important.
Darnell Nurse wasn’t moved at the 2026 NHL Draft, but the expectation around the Oilers is that he’ll be wearing a different NHL sweater by the end of summer. General manager Stan Bowman doesn’t need to force the issue, yet Nurse’s trade request makes the direction pretty clear. Once a player wants out, getting the best version of him becomes a tougher ask.
That leaves Edmonton with a defensive setup to sort out for 2026-27, and Walman is right in the middle of it. The left-shot defenseman’s seven-year deal begins on July 1, and the Oilers are counting on him to be more than he was last season if they want another run at the Stanley Cup Final.
Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm will still handle the heaviest assignments on the top pair. Bouchard, who had 95 points in 2025-26, will also keep running the first power-play unit, even though Walman brings a dangerous slapshot of his own. That means Walman’s job will be more of a support role, but it’s a support role with real weight behind it.
The minutes have to come from somewhere. Bouchard is already around 24 minutes a night when you combine his power-play and five-on-five work, while Walman averaged 18:45 last season.
With Nurse on the way out, Edmonton has roughly 20 minutes to redistribute, and some of that will go to the recently extended Connor Murphy. Even so, Walman’s $7 million cap hit points to a bigger ask.
There’s also room for a cleaner statistical season. Walman finished at minus 17, second worst on the team behind Andrew Mangiapane.
Plus/minus is an imperfect number, but the concern is harder to ignore when that mark comes in just 53 games. He can bring bite, too, as he showed in Edmonton’s second series against the Florida Panthers, and when he’s healthy he’s good for close to a hit per game.
The shot is there, and so is the chance for more offense if his ice time climbs. What the Oilers can’t afford is for those points to come with defensive breakdowns attached.
Walman is 30, which means there should still be plenty left in the tank before any decline sets in. Edmonton needs him to grow into the larger role ahead, because he’s part of the long-term picture now.
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The twist is that not every possible landing spot comes with the same kind of financial baggage, and that has made the process more complicated than a simple list of suitors. Nurse also has not agreed to widen his trade list to Anaheim, even as the Ducks remain part of the conversation around Edmonton, leaving one of the more intriguing possibilities unresolved as the Oilers try to find the right fit before the market opens. [Read more 🡒]
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Beyond the novelty, the move stands out because it opens a different kind of conversation about where elite womens hockey talent can fit into NHL development environments. Murphy, Kraemer and Primerano each arrive with a strong rsum from the womens game, and for the Oilers, the setup adds an unusual layer of interest to a camp that will already be closely watched for how players handle the jump in pace and expectation. [Read more 🡒]