EDMONTON — Jake Walman didn’t go through the heartbreak of last spring with his Edmonton Oilers teammates. He went through it with their fans though, on the other side of the TV screen like the rest of Oilers Nation, all the way to that 2-1 loss in Game 7 at Florida.
“I watched all the games last year, and Edmonton was the team I was cheering for,” Walman said Wednesday. “Connor is my buddy growing up, so I just really want him to win. Being a part of that now is a cool feeling.
“I'm ready to help.”
Walman went from playing on a minor bantam team with the son of assistant coach Brian McDavid, to becoming that son’s teammate in Edmonton at the recent trade deadline.
Today he dresses a few stalls over from the Oilers captain, in an Edmonton Oilers dressing room where expectations are about as high as they could possibly be.
In his fifth NHL season, Walman — who has turned out to have a few more qualities to his game than most observers realized he would bring to town — has but a single NHL playoff game under his belt. And even that was a bit gimmicky, as he jumped on to the end of a series with St. Louis as a rookie in the second edition of the COVID-19 playoffs back in 2021.
“No fans, really, and we were down 3-0 (in the series when he got in),” Walman recalled. “Everybody was sick with COVID-19, so I was lucky to get a shot.”
There’s no luck involved this season. Either the Oilers will finish the job or they won’t.
Walman will get playoff games for the Oilers as a top-four defenceman, steadying the top two pairs and leaving the Oilers with the luxury of Brett Kulak anchoring the third pair. He’ll play both the left and right side, on a D-corps that will function as a five-man unit with a sixth fitting in where needed.
So, what awaits Walman 15 games from now, when Edmonton opens against Los Angeles, Minnesota, or perhaps even Vegas?
“The rink gets smaller,” promised Corey Perry, a veteran of 215 playoff games – including five trips to the Final.
“The biggest thing in the playoffs is the rink gets smaller, and it's tighter checking,” Perry said. “You play one team for seven games. You only focus on one team, their tendencies and what they do. It starts shrinking a little bit. You don't have as much time.”
How many different coaches has Perry had over the years who preached getting pucks into a defenceman’s corner and then pounding them on the forecheck?
“Every single one, every single series,” he laughed. “That’s a staple of playoff hockey: You don't turn the puck over at the blue line; you chip it in; you make their D turn, and finish every check.”
Walman represents the change that every team needs, year over year, to breathe some fresh life into a new playoff run. There is almost always some element of putting the band back together, when your team gets as close as Edmonton did and walk away empty-handed.
But you also need some fresh blood, and at age 29, Walman is all of that wrapped inside a veteran who’s seen some things.
It turns out he’s an adept open-ice hitter, the likes of which Edmonton has not had in years, and Walman is big enough to hold his ground defensively at six-foot-one, 219 pounds. He can skate, shoots it above average and moves the puck at a top-four level.
There is enough player here that, when the games get to where they’re going — to the kind of hockey described by Perry — Walman is more excited than nervous about his ability to help his buddy Connor lay claim to his goal.
“I think I elevate my game in those big, big moments,” he said. “I'm one of those guys that can fit in well, and when these guys are moving it’s really just fitting in at that point … and go about it pretty seamlessly.
“In my hands, out of my hands. Seeing the play quickly,” he said. “I mean, the physical part, I'm fully ready for that. That's what comes with the short rink.
“Yeah, I'm ready for it.”
It’s not the same here as it was in San Jose or Detroit, Walman’s last two NHL stops. There are far higher expectations in Edmonton, as laid down by Perry:
“We set out a goal at the start of the season: One, to make playoffs; two is to win a Stanley Cup,” begins Perry. “We still have some work to do in here, but as it goes along, expectations get higher. And there's big expectations in this dressing room — especially after what happened last year.
“(The Cup) is what we're looking forward to. We're building our game towards that.”
“It’s a cool feeling,” Walman said of being part of a team with a chance. “Just doing everything I can, personally, to be prepared. Fit in, but not letting people down. Do everything you can at the rink, and then off the ice to be ready for when you're on the ice.
“I’m already dialled in. My sleeping habits, eating habits, everything, Just get prepared and be ready to go.”
He’s here to help.
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