Edmonton Oilers sign Jake Walman to a massive contract extension
The Edmonton Oilers’ pending extension with Connor McDavid wasn’t their only tidy piece of work on Monday morning.
Right around the same time the news of McDavid’s extension was taking over social media, the Oilers also announced that they re-signed Jake Walman. The veteran defenceman agreed to terms on a seven-year, $49 million deal that will carry a cap hit of $7 million.
While getting McDavid locked up is by far and away the biggest news of the day, getting Walman extended is no small feat for the Oilers. The 29-year-old, who was acquired from the San Jose Sharks at the trade deadline, played a massive role in Edmonton, posting two goals and 10 points in 22 playoff outings.
Walman is a left-shot defenceman who is solid at both ends of the ice and can play north of 20 minutes a night. Assuming this deal does get completed, it gives the Oilers four very competent left-shot defencemen for the 2025-26 season, and perhaps beyond, in Walman, Mattias Ekholm, Darnell Nurse, and Brett Kulak.
The caveat is that both Ekholm and Kulak are currently set to become free agents at the conclusion of the 2025-26 season. The 35-year-old Ekholm recently expressed his desire to remain in Edmonton, giving the fan base hope that an extension may be coming his way in the near future.
What will be interesting to monitor is who head coach Kris Knoblauch chooses to pair up with Walman this coming season. He played a big portion of his Oilers tenure last season with John Klingberg, who signed a free-agent deal with the Sharks early this summer. We will likely see one of their left shots, perhaps Kulak, play on his off side out of the gates.
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