Grading the Oilers’ Trade for Jake Walman

Walman is one of the more underrated top-four defenders in the NHL, so he should help the Oilers. Meanwhile, the Sharks flipped Walman for a premium asset after literally not giving up anything to acquire him from the Detroit Red Wings last offseason.

Oilers Get Underrated Top-4 Addition in Walman

The Sharks have some promising young talent and have improved from where they were a season ago, but they’re still far from being a playoff team. Even then, Walman had been outstanding for them this season, totaling six goals and 32 points in 50 games — a 53-point pace over 82 games. His 32 points are already a career-high by 11 points, and it’ll likely continue to increase with the Oilers.

Walman’s strength is his offensive game. He’s a high-volume shooter for a defenseman, as he has 125 shots on goal this season. He excels in transition, specifically exiting the defensive zone with puck possession. Though I’d say his shot is more threatening, he’s still a good passer.

The two areas of concern with Walman are his rush defense and his ability to defend forechecks. He’s struggled mightily to defend the rush this season, but that could just be a Sharks thing, given how porous their defense is. The Oilers are substantially better than the Sharks defensively, so it wouldn’t shock me if he improves there.

Still, the Sharks gave Walman difficult minutes, playing him against elite and middle-of-the-lineup players just above 72 percent of the time (per PuckIQ). He handled those minutes well, and odds are he won’t have to play as difficult minutes with the Oilers, so he should be in a position to succeed.

Walman is not a rental, as he’s under contract through the end of next season at a cap hit of $3.4 million. Though the first-round pick the Oilers gave up is conditional, it’s probably worth it since Walman is a legit top-four defender and is under contract for another season and a half. He’s obviously not the fix they need in net, but he will improve the team’s blue line. And perhaps that’ll have an impact on Stuart Skinner.

Oilers Grade: A-

Sharks Manage Walman Perfectly

Sharks general manager Mike Grier is guiding the perfect rebuild right now. The team isn’t good, but they have exciting young talent in Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith and William Eklund, and there’s more on the way. The Sharks’ own pick will likely be another high one in what looks like a very promising 2026 draft that looks deeper than this year’s class. If the conditions on the pick are met and the Sharks receive a 2026 first from the Oilers next season, it’ll only make an already rich prospect pool that much deeper.

As for Carl Berglund, the forward that the Sharks received, he looks like a career AHLer at this point. He had just 12 points in 45 games in the AHL at the time of the trade, and he’s already 25. He’s likely just a throw-in for the deal to move a contract for the Oilers or to give the Sharks some AHL depth.

Still, this is a great return for the Sharks. Remember, they also acquired a second from the Red Wings as a sweetener to take on Walman’s contract last summer (don’t ask me why the Red Wings did that). Less than a year later, they have first and second-round picks for just a few months of Walman’s time. That’s elite asset management from Grier.

Sharks Grade: A