Sharks Acquire Jake Walman

The Sharks have acquired defenseman Jake Walman from the Red Wings and the Lightning’s second-round pick in this week’s draft (53rd overall). Detroit will receive nothing in return aside from future considerations, signaling this as a cap dump for a bigger move from general manager Steve Yzerman.

The Red Wings acquired the second-round pick they’re sending to San Jose in a trade with the Predators earlier today, in which they swapped defense prospect Andrew Gibson for the signing rights to winger Jesse Kiiskinen.

Unlike most deals involving future considerations, this swap doesn’t involve a decidedly overpriced contract. Walman, who’s broken out as a serviceable top-four defender since arriving in Detroit in 2022, costs $3.4MM against the cap through 2025-26. That’s about what his market value would be if he were to reach free agency this summer, if not under it.

That makes this arguably the best trade in general manager Mike Grier’s tenure at the helm of the Sharks, purely from a value standpoint. Walman will immediately challenge Mario Ferraro for top-pairing minutes in the Bay Area, although he hasn’t been much of a special teams option in Detroit. He averaged just under 20 minutes per game the past two seasons despite spending most of his time on their first pairing alongside Moritz Seider.

Injuries limited Walman to 63 games this season, but they didn’t stop him from recording a career-high 12 goals and 21 points. He and Seider had some of the most difficult minutes in the league, though, which correspondingly tanked his possession numbers. After controlling 50.1% of shot attempts and 54.8% of expected goals when on the ice at even strength in 2022-23, Walman controlled only 45.3% of shot attempts and 41% of expected goals this year, per Hockey Reference.

The 28-year-old Walman adds some much-needed depth to a paper-thin San Jose blue line that got even thinner yesterday with the news that they won’t be qualifying power-play specialist Calen Addison. He’s the sixth Sharks defenseman signed to a one-way deal next season, joining Ferraro, Kyle Burroughs, Nikolai Knyzhov, Jan Rutta and Marc-Édouard Vlasic. Ty Emberson and Henry Thrun are pending RFAs but are expected back in the picture next season.

The Wings do increase their projected cap space next season to $32.77MM with the move, but they lose a quality minute-munching piece of their roster in the process. After remaining in the playoff race until the final days of the regular season, it’s clear Yzerman is moving money around to add impact pieces this summer to push them over the hump. He’s also gearing up to offer rich extensions to Seider and Lucas Raymond, both of whom are slated to become RFAs next week.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.