Jake Walman appears headed for the press box Wednesday night when the Edmonton Oilers face the Calgary Flames.
At Tuesday’s practice, the Oilers’ $7 million defenceman was no longer in the normal pairings and instead skated as the seventh blueliner. The move follows a rough opening to the season and comes on the heels of Monday night’s game against the Detroit Red Wings, when rookie Shakir Mukhamadullin moved up the lineup to skate with Evan Bouchard after Mattias Ekholm was injured.
Walman logged 13 minutes and 16 seconds against Detroit, which was the second-lowest ice time of any regular-season game he has played for the Oilers in which he did not leave because of injury. The only lower total came in Game 2 this season, a 9-7 win over the Vancouver Canucks.
When asked about the possibility of Walman being a healthy scratch 13 games into the season, head coach Mike Babcock kept it direct.
“I just stand there each night, and I watch the guys, and then my job is to make the decision to help the team win, and that’s what I do each and every night,” said Babcock. “And it’s personal to the guy, but it’s not personal to me, and it wouldn’t matter if you’re my son. That doesn’t work like that.
“It’s the job and we go about doing it. We try to put the guys in to have success. That’s what we’re doing.”
The message is plain enough: Walman’s play has not been where the Oilers need it.
That has not been a one-night issue, either. His 2025-26 season has already been disrupted by injuries - he missed Games 5 through 7 against San Jose, Los Angeles and Utah - but there has also been some speculation that the benching was performance-related.
The numbers back up the concern. In 109 five-on-five minutes, the Oilers have been outscored 10-3 with Walman on the ice.
That works out to a 5.5 goals-against-per-hour rate, the worst among defencemen with more than 100 minutes by 0.6 goals. His expected goals-against-per-hour mark is 3.14, which is still below average, though closer to league norms.
Walman is in the first season of a seven-year contract carrying a $7 million average annual value and a full no-movement clause.
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