Confirmed with Link: [EDM/SJS] Jake Walman <--> cond. EDM 1st '26 (Top-12 protected) & Carl Berglund

[McDoused]

Really? I've always seen Nurse's ideal partner as a mobile puck mover. Mind you I haven't watched much of Walman this year, but a lot of the reviews I've seen on him seem like he'd fit well there.

To add to that Emberson's best stats this year by far have been when paired with Kulak, and Kulak may sink with top 4 minutes in the playoffs we just don't know for sure. He's a better Dman than Ceci, but we saw Ceci's game completely fall apart in top 4 minutes. I don't think we'd see that from Kulak, but he might not be as effective as he's been recently in the playoffs in a smaller role.

Walman is an offensive dman. He holds the blue line extremely well, has a cannon for a shot and likes to shoot the puck. When you give him the puck in the defensive zone, he excels at carrying the puck and getting the puck out of the zone.

Walman however is prone to make poor decisions with the puck. He is a great shot blocker and isn't overly physical.

IMO the attributes and simple play of Emberson compliment the style that Walman brings. Pairing him with Nurse could be a disaster defensively.

 

[Morpheus]

Carl Berglund…more suspect than prospect.
Opens up a spot in Bakersfield.

 

[Sheikyerbouti]

Bouchard and detail what his flaws are I am willing to bet that list would be longer than Walmans list.

100%. It's a way longer list and yet Walman provides similar things, great shot, can handle the puck on the blueline and can make a pass. That's what I came away with reading about him. Poor man's bouchard that is better at everything else.

 

[VeteranPresence]

Look around the league at how teams build lines and pairs. You can spread out the wealth. Tampa Bay did the same thing they had Hedman, Sergachev and McDonagh down the left side. Edmonton should be able to pair a stronger defenceman than carries a weaker player.

Not really a fair comparison when you consider Tampa had actual right handers like Dan Girardi and Erik Cernak in their top four, plus Stralman. We also don’t have a HHOF lock #1 like Hedman.

 

[McFlyingV]

Walman is an offensive dman. He holds the blue line extremely well, has a cannon for a shot and likes to shoot the puck. When you give him the puck in the defensive zone, he excels at carrying the puck and getting the puck out of the zone.

Walman however is prone to make poor decisions with the puck. He is a great shot blocker and isn't overly physical.

IMO the attributes and simple play of Emberson compliment the style that Walman brings. Pairing him with Nurse could be a disaster defensively.

I don't really see Emberson as a clean up a turnover kind of D though. He's a solid defender in his own zone, and has good gap control, but he isn't exactly the guy who cleans up a 2 on 1 on a turnover. Nurse on the otherhand has the recovery speed and has much better numbers defending the rush/odd man rushes than he does at defending in zone.

I guess it's possible it could be a bad fit, but unless Walman is Klingberg 2.0, which I really don't think he is, then I don't think Nurse will struggle that much with him.

Either way they have 20 games to figure out where each player falls. They have 4 top 4 defenders now, and a very good #5 who can spot fill at #4, and a good #6 with some other quality depth options at 7/8. I like their defence a hell of a lot more going to bed tonight than I did when I woke up.

 

[Spawn]

Look around the league at how teams build lines and pairs. You can spread out the wealth. Tampa Bay did the same thing they had Hedman, Sergachev and McDonagh down the left side. Edmonton should be able to pair a stronger defenceman than carries a weaker player.

I think people here have become too fixated on a top 4 RHD since Larsson left and are desperate to plug that hole. Asking Walman to play his offside might work but if you're going to do that, you might as well as Kulak who has put up very strong numbers with him imo.

Nurse and Kulak have decent expected results together, but their actuals together are terrible.

Nurse on ice without Kulak at 5v5: 2.71GF/60, 2.22 GA/60

Nurse on ice with Kulak at 5v5:
2.12GF/60, 2.82GA/60

Kulaks results are similarly better when he’s away from Nurse (ie when he’s on the bottom pair where he belongs). Although they still aren’t very good. No d-man on the team gets scored against more than Kulak.

 

[McDoused]

Not really a fair comparison when you consider Tampa had actual right handers like Dan Girardi and Erik Cernak in their top four, plus Stralman who was that rare case of a left handed D who made his living on the right side. We also don’t have a HHOF lock #1 like Hedman.

I mean you have to pick either Walman on Kulak on his offside in the top 4. Kulak has proven that he's been more than capable of doing it this year.

I think the Oilers overpaid on Walman and that he doesn't fit in in top 4, so I'm not sure why you're arguing with me.

 

[McDoused]

Nurse and Kulak have decent expected results together, but their actuals together are terrible.

Nurse on ice without Kulak at 5v5: 2.71GF/60, 2.22 GA/60

Nurse on ice with Kulak at 5v5:
2.12GF/60, 2.82GA/60

Kulaks results are similarly better when he’s away from Nurse (ie when he’s on the bottom pair where he belongs). Although they still aren’t very good. No d-man on the team gets scored against more than Kulak.

Their expected goals based on scoring chances have been fantastic. Expected goals drive actual goals. You can't replicate luck.

The actual goals being higher is in part due to their on ice PDO and save percentage.

 

[guymez]

I mean you have to pick either Walman on Kulak on his offside in the top 4. Kulak has proven that he's been more than capable of doing it this year.

I think the Oilers overpaid on Walman and that he doesn't fit in in top 4, so I'm not sure why you're arguing with me.

The highlighted part is confusing when you consider that TDL is not typically the time when you get bargain deals.
TDL is and always has been associated with overpays especially in a season like this season which is a sellers market.
Honestly (all things considered) I think Bowman did quite well with this deal.

 

[Spawn]

Their expected goals based on scoring chances have been fantastic. Expected goals drive actual goals. You can't replicate luck.

The actual goals being higher is in part due to their on ice PDO and save percentage.

For a team that has been consistently underperforming expected results all season long, actual results are all that matter at this point.

 

[M Ace]

I hope its not a 1st rounder.

This trend of giving up high picks has to be reversed sooner or later.

You have an older team with lots of guys riding into the sunset. They have to be replaced with younger players and the free agent route has proven to be a mistake verging on a disaster. That leaves draft and develop.

...that hasn't worked in 30 years for the Oilers.....

The way Knob/Coffey like to mix and match their dmen I wouldn’t worry too much about who his “regular” partner is, I fully expect he’ll be coming in with around 20 min a night with multiple different partners. It would also probably be a good thing to cut back on Ekholm’s minutes a bit as he’s been struggling lately, gotta wonder how the long run last summer is affecting him being that he’s coming up on 35 shortly.

Ray Bourque & Nicklas Lidström says hallo.....

 

[Jumptheshark]

Carl Berglund…more suspect than prospect.
Opens up a spot in Bakersfield.

He got injured and never bounced back
we need to send someone down

 

[independent observer]

I thought the Oilers want to get stronger? He is not physical at all and the oilers don‘t need an offensive dmen. Also the whole is on the right side and not on the left… marvellous business as usual by the mgt. also giving up a 1st shows how desperate they are. How the roster construction in Edmonton is done is really poor for years now… if I am McDavid, I would leave as a free agent and join a team that is run better.

 

[Shanahanigans]

Stan Bowman giving up a first round pick for a third pairing D is the most Stan Bowman thing possible.

Walman is closer to a top pair D than a 3rd pair D. At worst, he's a number 3. Pairings don't matter right now, the point is we have 4 top 4 Dmen and Kulak who can play 2nd pair in a pinch if needed. In an ideal world we get a right shot 2nd pair guy, but Walman is better than all the available options, including guys like Carlo or Connor Murphy. Short of getting like Rasmus Andersson, this is much better than a Soucy or Oleksiak type player.

 

[Jumptheshark]

Stan Bowman giving up a first round pick for a third pairing D is the most Stan Bowman thing possible.

HE is a legit number 3/4. If you want to feel better. Redwings gave SJ a 2nd rounder to take the contract off their hands

 

[McFlyingV]

I hope its not a 1st rounder.

This trend of giving up high picks has to be reversed sooner or later.

You have an older team with lots of guys riding into the sunset. They have to be replaced with younger players and the free agent route has proven to be a mistake verging on a disaster. That leaves draft and develop.

You don't have time to draft and develop in the McDavid and Draisaitl era anymore. Their current prospect pool is the only guys that really fit that timeline, and they have a few decent bets in Savoie, O'Reilly, Akey, and maybe Beryozkin.

Make no mistake. This team is going to head into a 5-10 year rebuild when McDavid (assuming he signs) and Draisaitl retire or fizzle out. They will look very similar to the Penguins right now. They absolutely should be spending their picks on NHL players, but not rentals, and thats exactly what they're getting right now with another year on his contract and the option to evaluate if he's worth retaining beyond that.

Walman is closer to a top pair D than a 3rd pair D. At worst, he's a number 3. Pairings don't matter right now, the point is we have 4 top 4 Dmen and Kulak who can play 2nd pair in a pinch if needed. In an ideal world we get a right shot 2nd pair guy, but Walman is better than all the available options, including guys like Carlo or Connor Murphy. Short of getting like Rasmus Andersson, this is much better than a Soucy or Oleksiak type player.

Pretty much. Carlo has fallen off a cliff due to injuries. Connor Murphy has never actually been very good. Soucy has fallen off a cliff. Oleksiak is probably on par with Kulak.

 

[5 14 6 1]

Great trade

 

[5 14 6 1]

There is in fact something wrong with that when it makes Brett Kulak a 2RD on a supposed “contender”.

Even still, okay, say you’re fine with that… why not pay a 1st for a player who is on the ice for 60 minutes (cough goalie cough) as opposed to one who is on it for 17? There were lots of ways to find a third pairing PMD for less.

Bowman is an idiot, plain and simple. Believe people when they show you who they are and all that.

Im all ears for the 2nd pair rightys that are available. Who do you propose ?

 

[Morpheus]

Nvm

 

[Burnt Biscuits]

I like the player, don't mind the price (especially after hearing the prospect is Berglund), as I've said Nurse is one of the hardest d-men to find an ideal partner for so it's hard to be really confident in a Nurse Walman pairing, but I'm hopeful it will work out.

I like this deal better than the Frederic deal.

Also I'm noticing a lot of people have lost faith in Klingberg and I think it is understandable and I expected the early optimism to come crashing back to reality, but at the same time it was a really long lay-off and I think he still can improve more prior to the playoffs and while less versatile and less able to take on tough match-ups in contrast to Emberson, I think he is more ideally suited to putting up crooked numbers in a soft minute role.

The D-pairings I'm envisioning are:

Ekholm - Bouchard
Walman - Nurse
Kulak - Klingberg
ex: Emberson

 

[Took a pill in Sbisa]

Damn when Detroit gave him away to San Jose I was all over that for a sneaky target. Glad to have him, but wish we could have got him from Detroit for a 6th

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

From the prospect expert, the 1st is a bit steep but the Oilers did well here overall (I hope)

 

[ThePhoenixx]

Grier is killing it. He just made off with a first, a second and a prospect for future considerations! lol

 

[CycloneSweep]

Hes not a bottom pairing dman. He's a top 4 guy playing in the bottom pair. Nothing wrong with having 3 solid d pairings in the playoffs.

There is something wrong with spending a 1st to play a guy 12-13 minutes a night on your bottom pair though.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

There is something wrong with spending a 1st to play a guy 12-13 minutes a night on your bottom pair though.

Who's that? Did they trade a 1st for Troy Stetcher?