EDMONTON — Jake Walman didn’t undergo the heartbreak of final spring together with his Edmonton Oilers teammates. He went via it with their followers although, on the opposite aspect of the TV display screen like the remainder of Oilers Nation, all the way in which to that 2-1 loss in Sport 7 at Florida.
“I watched all of the video games final 12 months, and Edmonton was the crew I used to be cheering for,” Walman mentioned Wednesday. “Connor is my buddy rising up, so I simply actually need him to win. Being part of that now’s a cool feeling.
Walman went from taking part in on a minor bantam crew with the son of assistant coach Brian McDavid, to turning into that son’s teammate in Edmonton on the current commerce deadline.
Right this moment he attire a couple of stalls over from the Oilers captain, in an Edmonton Oilers dressing room the place expectations are about as excessive as they might probably be.
In his fifth NHL season, Walman — who has turned out to have a couple of extra qualities to his recreation than most observers realized he would convey to city — has however a single NHL playoff recreation beneath his belt. And even that was a bit gimmicky, as he jumped on to the tip of a collection with St. Louis as a rookie within the second version of the COVID-19 playoffs again in 2021.
“No followers, actually, and we have been down 3-0 (within the collection when he received in),” Walman recalled. “All people was sick with COVID-19, so I used to be fortunate to get a shot.”
There’s no luck concerned this season. Both the Oilers will end the job or they received’t.
Walman will get playoff video games for the Oilers as a top-four defenceman, steadying the highest two pairs and leaving the Oilers with the posh of Brett Kulak anchoring the third pair. He’ll play each the left and proper aspect, on a D-corps that may operate as a five-man unit with a sixth becoming in the place wanted.
So, what awaits Walman 15 video games from now, when Edmonton opens in opposition to Los Angeles, Minnesota, or maybe even Vegas?
“The rink will get smaller,” promised Corey Perry, a veteran of 215 playoff video games – together with 5 journeys to the Remaining.
“The largest factor within the playoffs is the rink will get smaller, and it is tighter checking,” Perry mentioned. “You play one crew for seven video games. You solely deal with one crew, their tendencies and what they do. It begins shrinking a bit bit. You do not have as a lot time.”
What number of completely different coaches has Perry had over time who preached getting pucks right into a defenceman’s nook after which pounding them on the forecheck?
“Each single one, each single collection,” he laughed. “That’s a staple of playoff hockey: You do not flip the puck over on the blue line; you chip it in; you make their D flip, and end each examine.”
Walman represents the change that each crew wants, 12 months over 12 months, to breathe some recent life into a brand new playoff run. There may be nearly all the time some component of placing the band again collectively, when your crew will get as shut as Edmonton did and stroll away empty-handed.
However you additionally want some recent blood, and at age 29, Walman is all of that wrapped inside a veteran who’s seen some issues.
It seems he’s an adept open-ice hitter, the likes of which Edmonton has not had in years, and Walman is sufficiently big to carry his floor defensively at six-foot-one, 219 kilos. He can skate, shoots it above common and strikes the puck at a top-four degree.
There may be sufficient participant right here that, when the video games get to the place they’re going — to the type of hockey described by Perry — Walman is extra excited than nervous about his capability to assist his buddy Connor lay declare to his objective.
“I believe I elevate my recreation in these huge, huge moments,” he mentioned. “I am a type of guys that may slot in properly, and when these guys are transferring it’s actually simply becoming in at that time … and go about it fairly seamlessly.
“In my palms, out of my palms. Seeing the play rapidly,” he mentioned. “I imply, the bodily half, I am totally prepared for that. That is what comes with the quick rink.
“Yeah, I am prepared for it.”
It’s not the identical right here because it was in San Jose or Detroit, Walman’s final two NHL stops. There are far greater expectations in Edmonton, as laid down by Perry:
“We set out a objective at the beginning of the season: One, to make playoffs; two is to win a Stanley Cup,” begins Perry. “We nonetheless have some work to do in right here, however because it goes alongside, expectations get greater. And there is huge expectations on this dressing room — particularly after what occurred final 12 months.
“(The Cup) is what we’re wanting ahead to. We’re constructing our recreation in direction of that.”
“It’s a cool feeling,” Walman mentioned of being a part of a crew with an opportunity. “Simply doing all the things I can, personally, to be ready. Slot in, however not letting individuals down. Do all the things you possibly can on the rink, after which off the ice to be prepared for while you’re on the ice.
“I’m already dialled in. My sleeping habits, consuming habits, all the things, Simply get ready and be able to go.”
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