Oilers Putting More Focus On Walman Contract Following Podkolzin Signing

The Edmonton Oilers are continuing their work in getting players signed for the future while Connor McDavid waits to sign his next deal. Vasily Podkolzin just inked a three-year deal, and according to Frank Seravalli, the Oilers have made progress on a long-term extension with defenseman Jake Walman.

Signing Walman long-term would be a big win for the Oilers as he is seemingly replacing the role and production of Mattias Ekholm. Walman is in his prime while Ekholm, who will also need a contract for next season, should re-sign, but is in his mid-30s and is declining as well as experiencing some more injuries.

For a while, my feeling has been that the Oilers extend both Walman and Ekholm and they seemingly swap salaries. While it would be ideal to get Walman locked down for at least six years, the team shouldn't sign Ekholm for more than three.

Walman really broke out last season and acquiring him was a great trade deadline move for the Oilers. He's physical, plays a lot of both special teams, and has good underlying numbers. He scored seven goals and 40 points in 65 games while averaging three more minutes per game than any other season in his career. One thing that the Oilers have to watch out for is he has only played 63-65 games each of the past three seasons. Edmonton is going to be hoping for an 80+ game player if they are increasing his salary by 2x and committing to him long-term.

Walman will play the second pairing alongside Darnell Nurse and the hope is that they can form some good chemistry and make the money allocated to the two worth it. The expectation is that Walman takes another step forward on a very good Oilers team and not only chips in a good amount on the offense, but plays a strong defensive game too.