Chief among them was Connor McDavid, who agreed to a two-year deal worth $12.5 million, the same annual average value as his previous contract. That set the deadline for the Oilers’ window of contention.

With the extra money, the Oilers extended Mattias Ekholm to a three-year deal two days after McDavid’s extension. They also extended Jake Walman to a seven-year deal carrying a $7 million cap hit on the same day as McDavid’s extension. The question is, did Walman’s extension come too early?

Here’s the skinny of Walman’s career before joining the Oilers. He was a late bloomer, drafted in 2014 and only making his National Hockey League debut in 2019-20. Walman became a regular with the Detroit Red Wings in 2022-23 thanks to being traded there before the 2022 trade deadline. In his two full seasons there, Walman set career-highs with the Original Six team.

In 2023-24, he scored 12 goals and 21 points in 63 games, but missed time down the stretch. That off-season, the Red Wings attached a second-round pick to Walman in an attempt to clear cap space, sending him to the Sharks. With the 2024-25 Sharks being as bad as they were, Walman flourished with increased playing time, scoring six goals and 32 points in just 50 games.

Then the Oilers came knocking before the 2025 trade deadline. The price was a 2026 first and an older prospect, Carl Berglund, who spent the 2025-26 season in Czechia. As for Walman, he finished the season with a goal and eight points in 15 games, playing second pair minutes, especially after Mattias Ekholm went down with an injury.

He was also noticeable in the 2025 postseason, scoring two goals and 10 points in 22 games, which was pretty much his NHL postseason debut, except for one game with the Blues in 2021. Simply put, Walman played like a defenceman who makes $7 million annually after the trade.

The same cannot be said about the 2025-26 regular season. Beginning the season on the injured list, Walman scored eight goals and 20 points in 53 games, solid productivity for a player who bounced between the second and third pairing.

Walman’s underlying numbers were concerning, as the Oilers had 40.9 percent of the goal share and 46.02 percent of the expected goal share with Walman on the ice during five-on-five action. On top of that, the Oilers were outshot and gave up a lot more high-danger scoring chances than they generated.

I’ve been a big fan of Walman since he was with the Red Wings, but even I can admit that the Oilers jumped the gun with the extension. That said, there are a few things that make me hopeful that this signing won’t age as poorly as it seems.

For starters, I don’t think it’s a hot take to say that Walman was the Oilers’ best defenceman in their six-game series against the Ducks. The Oilers’ goal share with Walman on the ice during five-on-five jumped to 54.55 percent, while his expected goal share jumped to 50.9 percent. They still gave up more scoring chances, but generated one more high-danger scoring chance than they gave up while also outshooting the opposition.

Walman’s four points were the second-most for any Oilers’ defenceman in the six games, picking up two primary and two secondary assists. Only Evan Bouchard had more points, but four of his seven points came on the power play.

He wasn’t perfect by any means, as Walman picked up a team-leading eight penalty minutes. For some odd reason, they managed to kill off the four penalties, which make up half of their eight successful kills. I don’t really know what to make of this, but it’s pretty funny.

The two other factors that give hope are the fact he spent large portions of the season injured and played off-handed. Let’s start with the latter.

Walman commonly played on the right side when playing with Darnell Nurse on the second pairing. He played nearly 1,000 minutes of five-on-five action in the regular season, and 416 of those minutes were spent with Nurse. It went as expected, as the Oilers had 40.82 percent of the goal share and 41.48 percent of the expected goal share with the two on the ice during five-on-five play.

When Walman was with any other defence partner, just over 577 minutes of five-on-five play, the Oilers had 42.86 percent of the goal share (not great) and 49.44 percent of the expected goal share, which is about average. The Oilers gave up 107 high-danger chances and generated 71 high-danger chances with the Walman and Nurse on the ice, while the Oilers generated more high-danger chances with Walman on the ice when he was away from Nurse.

It still wasn’t a great season for Walman, as his best underlying numbers came with Bouchard or Ekholm. This is a facet of his game that’ll need to improve on next season.

The other sign that gives hope is that Walman missed 29 games with two different stints on the injured reserve. Walman missed the first six games of the season, then immediately scored an overtime winner in his first game back. He played 17 games, scoring three goals and 10 points, but was injured by blocking a shot when the Oilers visited the Tampa Bay Lightning.

That injury happened to be a bone bruise, which forced him to miss the next 23 games. When he returned in mid-January, Walman scored five goals and 10 points in his final 36 points, but didn’t play particularly great.

His injury history is worrisome, because this is not the first time he’s missed 20 or more games in a season. However, it’s unclear whether or not injuries impacted his game. The fact that Walman elevated his play in the postseason gives some hope heading into the 2026-27 season that maybe, just maybe, this contract won’t age poorly.

Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Oilersnation, FlamesNation, and Blue Jays Nation. Follow her on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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