Jake Walman was possibly my favorite player on the Detroit Red Wings. Not because he was the most skilled or talented, but because he was fun. He had a younger brother attitude that the other young stars thrived off of. The team looked like they enjoyed playing and had fun winning. The Tik-Tok notoriety be damned, Walman brought more than just fun dances to the Detroit locker room.
The 2023-2024 season, like so many others, put a lot of pressure on the top defensive pair. They were constantly being forced to play against forwards who, to be quite honest, were a tier above what the Red Wings had to offer on the defensive side to counteract that onslaught. But, after a longer than-ideal stint with Ben Chiarot, Moritz Seider found his D partner in Jake Walman who successfully complimented Seider.
Together they faced the toughest matchups in the entire NHL. This wasn’t because of just bad luck for the entirety of the season. It was because the coaching staff knew that it was necessary to continue to throw that pair out against the opponents' top forwards if they wanted a shot to sneak into the playoffs.
As time passes, it becomes clear that the club’s defense is still not anywhere near where it needs to be to compete night in and night out. Losing Gostisbehere was hurtful but there was at least an attempt at remedying the pain by signing Erik Gustaffson.
The loss of Walman has forced Detroit's defense to take a step backward
There didn't seem to be a plan to replace Walman. Sure, Simon Edvinsson will now have a full season to show why he was drafted at number six overall, but this has still left Seider back with his old partner, Chiarot. We have seen this pairing not be successful for far too long. If the plan is to promote Edvinsson to play top minutes, that is great, but hopefully, the team can stack together some wins before that catches up to them.
Ultimately, Walman was traded with a fourth-round pick for future considerations, to make cap space.
If you think that seems like a low price tag for a top-pairing defenseman, I would tend to agree with you. However, the league’s general managers were particularly stingy this offseason. Making, moving contracts, and clearing cap space increasingly difficult. The lack of assets in return is startling. Then comes the question, “Why did we need to gain cap space?”
The team did not attempt to make a run at the big fish in free agency or even in the draft. It seems from the outside looking in, there could have been behind-the-scenes problems that caused a trade of Jake Walman, but it seems unfair to speculate.
The youth movement that the fans have been clamoring for could be the lone bright spot in the loss of Walman. Both Edvinsson and Johannson will certainly garner more ice time. The problem is, at the moment neither of them seem to be ready to play top minutes and fully take Walman’s role over. The team could still use his services in a bad way.
It is no secret that the overall defense is the weakest attribute of the lineup. While Seider tries to develop chemistry with other players on the roster, Detroit will have to compensate elsewhere to help with the downgrade to the defensive core, because the absence of Walman is taking a toll on the blue line.