What I've learned, if anything, about the Jake Walman trade
Two days after the deal we are still trying to figure out exactly what happened.
Good morning from the Detroit airport.
I’m headed to Las Vegas this morning for the 2024 NHL Draft, which in theory is going to kick off a flurry of offseason activity for the Detroit Red Wings.
But before any of that happens, I wanted to take some time to try and unpack what happened earlier this week when the Red Wings traded Jake Walman and a second-round pick to the San Jose Sharks for future considerations (which is effectively a word placeholder on a deal for nothing.)
It’s a puzzling deal, still is. And Steve Yzerman’s typical media blackout policy (I know both myself and Max Bultman have asked about him speaking on this) hasn’t really given us a better picture of what Red Wings GM was thinking here.
So I’ve done the next best thing over the past couple days reaching out to people around the league and around the Sharks to try and understand what happened.
Everyone seems to believe this is part of a bigger move for Yzerman, $3.4 million in cap space for added flexibility. We also know that the Red Wings and Shayne Gostisbehere are trying to work out a deal, potentially before the defender hits the UFA market on July 1.
Yzerman is also a bit hamstrung right now by not having deals done for Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond. Not to the extent where it should limit other deals, but Yzerman has apparently told some other teams that he has to be more patient because of those large looming RFA deals.
So far this all makes sense, and while moving Walman to open up cap space as opposed to Justin Holl is puzzling, it’s not malpractice in that sense and maybe Yzerman has a big swing in the works.
The thing that doesn’t make sense, and is still puzzling people around the league, is why Yzerman effectively assigned negative trade value to Walman and gave up a second-round pick to move the defender.
It became even more puzzling when Ilya Mikheyev was traded last night by the Vancouver Canucks to the Chicago Blackhawks. Mikheyev was moved with a sweetener to Chicago, but the Canucks at least netted a fourth-round pick in return.
The other puzzling thing is that Yzerman apparently didn’t shop Walman around a ton. Based off some of my conversations and reading reports from others, there were multiple teams that would have been interested in actually trading something for Walman.
And if the Red Wings were truly desperate to be clear of Walman, they could have kept the second-round pick and simply waived him. The San Jose Sharks, I know for a fact, would have claimed him on waivers since they are first in the waiver order, like they did with Barclay Goodrow. In fact, I’ve heard San Jose was happily stunned when Yzerman simply didn’t ask for a return and offered a second-round pick sweetener.
Whether Walman was part of the plan or not, this was pretty horrific asset management by Yzerman.
The other frustrating thing to come out of all this has been Yzerman’s silence on the deal, he’ll likely speak again after Round 1 of the draft, has led to an online witch hunt to find the reason for Walman getting shipped out.
Walman, I can tell you, isn’t a typical hockey player. He’s more outspoken and cares about his personal brand, he has interests away from the sport, and he may have irked the occasional NHL executive with his goal celebration. He’s also outspoken and is willing to defend himself in the media, another rarity in today’s NHL.
Maybe that irked Yzerman, maybe his play down the stretch led to a disconnect. We don’t know, and until Yzerman speaks on it we won’t have a better answer for his reasoning.
Either way, none of that, from my conversations, should have created negative trade value to get rid of him.
I know people in San Jose are thrilled with the deal, they add an energetic defender to a roster that was horrible last season and someone with personality in a market that’s trying to endure a rebuild.
For Detroit, there’s flexibility to make another move, but it didn’t have to come at any cost. And while “trust the Yzerplan” — even if Yzerman himself bristles at the word — has been a common rallying cry, this was simply poor asset management.
Not sure if that gives any more clarity, but it’s what I’ve been able to gather in the roughly 36 hours or so since the deal.
Thanks for reading.