Confirmed Trade: [EDM/SJS] Jake Walman for Carl Berglund, 2026 1st round pick

[Divine]

But presumably a savvy GM would see him, to some extent, for his potential.

Like if you think the Oilers GM purely looked at his box car stats and said, 'we need to go get him because of his points', particularly when they have Bouchard on their top PP, then you're not giving NHL braintrust enough credit.

I get that players develop when given opportunity and value can be in flux to an extent.
But there's no world where it made sense to give him away with a 2nd, and most of us could see potential there. He's largely the same player, but in bigger doses and seems to have found more confidence and conviction in his game.

Any 'savvy GM' could have got paid a second round pick to take him a few months ago. No one wanted his contract.

He racked up a few PP points on the worst team and the league and got a 1st round pick.

 

[MarkusNaslund19]

Any 'savvy GM' could have got paid a second round pick to take him a few months ago.

There's only one Walman and a savvy GM did. Not sure what point you're making.

 

[Hodge]

But presumably a savvy GM would see him, to some extent, for his potential.

Like if you think the Oilers GM purely looked at his box car stats and said, 'we need to go get him because of his points', particularly when they have Bouchard on their top PP, then you're not giving NHL braintrust enough credit.

I get that players develop when given opportunity and value can be in flux to an extent.
But there's no world where it made sense to give him away with a 2nd, and most of us could see potential there. He's largely the same player, but in bigger doses and seems to have found more confidence and conviction in his game.

This is the same NHL "braintrust" that spent all their cap space on Skinner, Arvidsson and Henrique then lost Broberg and Holloway for nothing.

 

[Divine]

There's only one Walman and a savvy GM did. Not sure what point you're making.

Edmonton overpaid is the point I'm making if I got to spell it out for you.

 

[S E P H]

Who's the worse GM, Bowman, for trading a 1st for an offensive dman going to a team that has just offense and has no defense or goaltending, or yzerman who traded a 2nd to unload a player who was traded for a 1st 50 games later?

Mike Grier cooked at least.

Oilers because they are chasing the Cup, not 1st overall in a below-talented draft class.

 

[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.

 

[Three On Zero]

It's a gross overpayment but he isn't a terrible fit. Bowman banking HARD on Bouchard and Nurse getting better down the final stretch. Or else that becomes one expensive bottom 4 defenceman

 

[Nut Upstrom]

I dont see the fit. Maybe Walman gets sent to Anaheim in a deal for Gibson.

 

[McFlyingV]

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.

He has some physicality in his game, and his size is fine. Since when was Edmonton looking to get stronger on the backend? They already have Ekholm, Nurse and Emberson who play a physical game, and they have good size in Bouchard and Kulak who had no issue with the physicality in last year's playoffs. Edmonton wants to get bigger and more physical up front, which they did with the Frederic and Jones acquisitions, and the likely inevitable return of Evander Kane in the playoffs.

An offensive puck mover is completely fine for this roster. In fact this Oilers roster is far more built around o-zone time and cycling the puck more so than offence off the rush like they were in previous years. Adding another big shot on the blue line fits quite well with their current style of play, and if anything adding more speed and puck moving on the back end was something else they needed. They didn't really have a puck mover on their 2nd pair, and outside of Kulak and Nurse they lack a bit of foot speed on the backend.

 

[Jumptheshark]

I would ask a wings fan what they think about the deal--but I already know the answer

 

[MarkusNaslund19]

This is the same NHL "braintrust" that spent all their cap space on Skinner, Arvidsson and Henrique then lost Broberg and Holloway for nothing.

I'm not arguing that the Oilers GM is smart.

I'm saying that yes, San Jose was smart in taking him and building him up. But it's not like he was ACTUALLY even close to negative value. That was dingbat shit from Yzerman.

Edmonton overpaid is the point I'm making if I got to spell it out for you.

We agree on that point.

 

[BelovedIsles]

Wouldn’t SJ want to hang in to this kind of D man. You need young talent to support the even younger talent.

 

[Three On Zero]

I'm not arguing that the Oilers GM is smart.

I'm saying that yes, San Jose was smart in taking him and building him up. But it's not like he was ACTUALLY even close to negative value. That was dingbat shit from Yzerman.


We agree on that point.

Reportedly also had locker room issues in Detroit which was part of the reason he was traded

 

[Legion34]

Yzerman isnt the only GM to trade him recently. When teams keep moving on from you, its usually for a reason.

Yzerman paid a 2 to get rid of him. There’s a difference

 

[mightbeabird]

Yuck.

 

[tiburon12]

Wouldn’t SJ want to hang in to this kind of D man. You need young talent to support the even younger talent.

Walman is 29 and has 250 NHL games. He's not a savvy veteran to keep around for his off-ice value.

 

[nuxnux1]

Always iffy about these inflated numbers on bad team guys but sure it’s a move I guess

 

[5 14 6 1]

Connor Murphy?

He is not a top 4D lol. Averages 15 points and a minus 15 per season

 

[MessierThanThou]

The Oilers just gave up a 1st Rd pick and a prospect, for a Dman who’s been a HEALTHY SCRATCH on 2 different teams in the last calendar season.

I’m not sure we’ve ever seen that happen before.

To each his own I guess. I got sucked in at one time too. Thinking it finally clicked for Walman mentally…..

Then all the bad stuff started re-appearing for almost an entire season.. The overskating of pucks, the blind passes to his invisible friends, etc, etc. He’ll break your heart at the worst times.

You’ll be thinking, “all those idiots said he’s horrible” thinking your team is laughing all the way to the bank….Then out of nowhere you’ll find out.

Teams thought they could fix Brandon Pirri too.

Walman is the Dman version of Brandon Pirri.

San Jose has made some questionable trades but they hit paydirt on this one.

He’s basically a filler Dman. The type who can play a lot of minutes on bad teams because he’s very physically talented.. Where everything else around him is bad, so you start accepting his bad traits too, because he has some excitement to his game as well.

That’s the strange test case called Jake Walman. This won’t end well for the Oilers.

Jesus Christ, this sounds almost exactly like Darnell Nurse last season. And at times this season too. f***.

And our goaltending is worse this year than last, so I can just imagine how badly the media will skewer him (because Edmonton's goaltending is off-limits so the D-men are blamed for everything that gets by).

He is not a top 4D lol. Averages 15 points and a minus 15 per season

That's all you're using to arrive at this conclusion? Points and plus/minus? On one of the worst teams in the league? You might be right, not saying you aren't, just maybe put more effort into proving your point?

 

[Three On Zero]

Wouldn’t SJ want to hang in to this kind of D man. You need young talent to support the even younger talent.

When you can get a 2nd for taking him on and then flip him for a 1st? He could be the best leader in the locker room but you f***ing take that deal without thinking twice about it

 

[GreatSaveLuongo]

LOL Sharks got him for a bag of pucks and flipped him for 1st+

 

[MessierThanThou]

Reportedly also had locker room issues in Detroit which was part of the reason he was traded

The Oilers seem to actively seek out players with locker room issues and a checkered past. Even our GM was plucked out of a basket of deplorables.

 

[Pavelski2112]

LOL Sharks got him for a bag of pucks and flipped him for 1st+

We actually got paid to take him, which is wild because he ended up being our best d-man all year

 

[ScoreZeGoals]

This is absolutely incredible asset management by Grier and the Sharks

 

[splot]

I would ask a wings fan what they think about the deal--but I already know the answer

It is what it is, we were all kind of puzzled when he got scratched last season. He hadn't played great the last week or two, but he was getting some top pairing time. Nothing has been confirmed, but people were speculating major off-ice issues which would explain why Yzerman had to pay to get rid of a serviceable player. Very surprised that they got a 1st for him, but its a sellers market I guess.