When the Oilers picked up Jake Walman last year at the deadline, he was like a breath of fresh air for Edmonton's d-core. He had 8 points in 15 games down the stretch and was instrumental to them making the Stanley Cup playoffs. Unfortunately, this season has been a different story. Dating back to that playoff fun, Walman suffered an injury and that seems to have permeated into this season as he has been out at various points over the season.
He has not played terribly this year, but he is definitely not the same player as last season. This, I think, is due to these various injuries. His timing seems a little off at times, whereas last season he was making quick, smart decisions. With injuries, it always messes up any momentum you pick up and distracts the player at times from simply playing their game.
Walman is fast, is known for being able to make a good outlet pass, can play a physical game and he has a great shot. For the Oilers, having this type of player on the back end is more than paramount, and when he was playing his best hockey, Edmonton was a force. The one difference however was he had more ice time and had more opportunities on the power play. The coaching staff need to find a way to get him going, and if I was them, I would attempt to place him in more offensive situations and give him more reps on the pp.
If you take a look at last game, Walman only played 15:10, fifth among the d men. He simply has too much talent and a lot to bring to the team for him to be playing that amount of time. For a guy like him, he needs at least 18 minutes to get into the flow of the game and have an opportunity to use his talents more regularly. I loved the extension the team signed him too and I think he's worth it. He just needs to shake off the injuries and get back to being Jake Walman.