It has been a difficult and turbulent start to the season for Edmonton Oilers defenseman Jake Walman. As the team looks to solidify its defensive core and navigate high expectations, the 30-year-old blueliner has found himself falling out of favor with head coach Mike Babcock. The mounting concerns culminated recently when Babcock made Walman a healthy scratch for a crucial matchup against the rival Calgary Flames.
For a player tied to a lucrative long-term contract and carrying the weight of significant expectations, the benching serves as a stark warning sign. As questions swirl around what has gone wrong in Walman’s game and what needs to change for him to regain his footing in Edmonton, the spotlight on the veteran defenseman has never been brighter.
The Shadow of Darnell Nurse and the Weight of Expectations
For much of his final tenure with the Edmonton Oilers, defenseman Darnell Nurse served as a constant flashpoint of controversy among fans and analysts alike. While Nurse was undeniably a capable presence on the ice, he was never quite the elite 1A blueliner that his hefty $9.25-million annual salary suggested he should be. Instead, he became a focal point of frustration largely because of the massive salary cap hit attached to his name—a financial reality that severely limited the team’s flexibility elsewhere in the lineup.
Now that Nurse has moved on, another Oilers defenseman is stepping into the early stages of replacing him as the primary target for fan and management frustration: Jake Walman.
Edmonton coach Mike Babcock’s recent deployment of Walman, punctuated by his omission from the lineup against the Flames, suggests that the defenseman could quickly morph into the team’s latest whipping boy if his performances do not improve. The transition from high-priced contributor to scrutinized liability is happening rapidly in the high-pressure hockey market of Edmonton, where patience wears thin quickly when championship aspirations are on the line.
Analyzing Walman’s Struggles: Production vs. Defensive Liability
To some extent, the intense criticism surrounding Walman at this early juncture of the season is unfair. He has laced up his skates for just nine games, recording a modest single point over that span. However, it is vital to remember that Walman was never signed or acquired to be a primary point-producer or an offensive juggernaut from the blue line.
The peak of Walman’s offensive prowess came during the 2024-25 campaign, when he put together an impressive 40-point season across 65 games split between the San Jose Sharks and the Edmonton Oilers. While he has not been able to replicate that exact level of offensive output since, scoring is not the root of his current troubles. The far more alarming issue is his troubling minus-7 rating, which underscores deeper problems in his overall game.
While plus-minus statistics are rarely viewed by modern analysts as a flawless indicator of an individual player’s overall effectiveness, it serves here as one of several glaring metrics highlighting Walman’s severe defensive struggles. When looking deeper beneath the surface numbers, the analytics paint an even more concerning picture of his current deployment.
According to data from Natural Stat Trick, opponents are generating an astounding 16.5 high-danger scoring chances per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 while Walman is actively on the ice. That figure ranks as the 12th-highest in the entire National Hockey League and, more importantly, stands as the highest among all defensemen currently on the Edmonton Oilers roster. Furthermore, Walman carries the highest expected goals-against rating on a per-60-minute basis at 5-on-5 among Oilers defensemen, sitting at a troubled 3.14 mark.
Put simply, opponents are generating quality offensive opportunities at a drastically higher rate than the Oilers are managing whenever Walman is on the ice.
These underlying metrics strongly suggest that he is not currently playing up to the high standards that inherently accompany a $7-million annual salary—a contract that still has another six seasons remaining on it after the conclusion of the current campaign. When a player commands that much financial commitment and occupies the position of the second-highest paid defenseman on the entire team, his usage and performance become paramount. The gap between his compensation and his current on-ice impact is precisely why his usage under Babcock has become such a prominent talking point to start the season.
Declining Ice Time and Growing Distrust from the Coaching Staff
The friction between Walman’s current performance and his contract status is further reflected in how the coaching staff has managed his minutes. After averaging a respectable 18:45 of ice time per game last season, Walman has seen his workload drop significantly, playing just 14:45 per night in the early weeks of this season.
This downward trend in playing time is even more stark when considering that Walman was averaging 21:26 of ice time just two seasons ago. The trajectory is clearly moving in the wrong direction, providing a clear window into the mindset of the coaching staff. It is evident that Mike Babcock does not currently possess full trust in Walman’s reliability in high-leverage situations, meaning the defenseman must orchestrate a substantial rebound if he wants to rescue his season in Edmonton.
When media members pressed Babcock ahead of the game against Calgary to find out whether Walman had any prior warning that a benching was imminent, the head coach did not mince words.
"For sure," Babcock told reporters, addressing the decision. "If you’ve gone over and over and over it—and (the benching has) been coming now. You watch the game once and I watch the game lots. And I see those clips, and I see those clips over and over and over again, so if you’re in the wrong clips, pretty soon you’re in the wrong spot."
Babcock elaborated further, making it abundantly clear what specific criteria Walman must meet to earn back the trust of the coaching staff and secure a consistent role within the team’s defensive corps.
"You earn your opportunity," Babcock stated plainly. "You earn it through competitiveness and detail. And so what are you? If you’re a D-man, there can’t be chances against and the puck can’t go in your net. That’s just a very, very simple thing, and especially if you’re not an offensive D-man."
The veteran coach emphasized the relentless nature of professional sports and the constant evaluation that players undergo behind closed doors.
"So that’s the challenge for him. It’s never easy. Everyone thinks they should play more minutes and everyone thinks they should play every night, and that they can do more. The reality is, though, our job is just to watch and see what guys give us the best chance to win."
While Babcock’s public assessment does not amount to a career-ending indictment of Walman’s abilities as an NHL defenseman, it falls a long way short of a vote of confidence. The margin for error is razor-thin for the Edmonton Oilers this year, with the stakes sitting at an absolute peak for both the coaching staff and the front office. In an environment where championship aspirations leave zero room for error, any vulnerability or leaky component within the lineup is bound to be addressed swiftly and decisively.