Red Wings Top 10 Question Marks Heading Into the Off-Season

Does Jake Walman Have A Future With the Red Wings?

At this past years trade deadline, the Red Wings moved on from left-handed defenseman, Nick Leddy. Having moved him to the St. Louis Blues, the Red Wings were able to acquire Jake Walman, Oskar Sunqvist, and a 2023 second-round pick.

Now, Oskar Sunqvist is still under contract for this upcoming season so the Red Wings don’t really need to worry about him. However, Jake Walman is a free agent. Furthermore, he plays a position in which the Red Wings are very deep on. So, has Walman done enough to earn himself more time with the Red Wings organization? Well, let’s see.

Since becoming apart of the Detroit Red Wings, Jake Walman has done nothing but show he belongs in this league and that he has the potential to become a top line defenseman if he can continue to develop and see minutes on the ice to learn.

When he was with the St. Louis Blues, most of his time came from other defenseman being hurt, not neccessarily earning the right to play over others. Which, the Blues clearly made a mistake for. His skating is something that you cannot dispute. He skates with so much energy, and he is always moving his feet and trying to make stops and close gaps on the opposition. He is an elite skater, but the thing that makes him have such a high ceiling isn’t even his skating.

Walman, since being traded to the Detroit Red Wings hasn’t really produced the stats to show how well he’s performed, but stats don’t always mean everything. He has been able to fire shots from the perimeter, has made multiple great defensive stops but more importantly- he learns from the mistakes and continues to get better every game. That’s all you can ask of a player like Walman.

Not really ever seeing minutes with the Blues, it is hard to really help him grow as a player. However, now that he is seeing minutes with the Red Wings it’s becoming more and more clear the player that he can one day be. But has he done enough to earn himself another year with the Red Wings? That is something that will be interesting to figure out this off-season.