The Edmonton Oilers have placed Jake Walman on injured reserve on Thursday. The good news is that the team won't need to make any other roster adjustments to squeeze Jack Roslovic onto the roster. The potentially bad news (hopefully not for the Oilers' sake) is that Walman has taken a slight step back due to his injury situation.
Walman was projected only to miss the first game of the season, but now it appears he's a potential maybe for Saturday's contest versus the Vancouver Canucks.
This move gives the Oilers some breathing room to finalize their forward lines and defensive pairings without immediately having to trade or waive a forward.
It's unclear how long Walman will remain sidelined, though he returned to practice with the team on Wednesday morning. PuckPedia writes, "Walman would be eligible to be activated from IR at any time. If Walman is activated and Roslovic is on the roster, 1 other player would need to come off (IR or Minors) to be at 23 players."
With the defenseman temporarily on the shelf, rookie Alec Regula joined Darnell Nurse on Edmonton’s second defensive pairing against Calgary. At the same time, the rest of the blue line stayed intact — Evan Bouchard with Mattias Ekholm, and Brett Kulak paired with Ty Emberson.
Earlier in the week, Walman signed a seven-year contract extension worth $7 million annually. The injury news is unfortunate timing as it's opened up the door to questions from naysayers about his durability over the long-term.
A 2014 third-round pick, Walman is entering his first full season with the Oilers after a breakout year split between San Jose and Edmonton. He logged nearly 23 minutes a night, tallied 40 points in 65 games, and was on pace for 50 points over a full 82-game season.
Currently, Walman and Mattias Janmark are out, but hopefully, they are near ready to make their NHL returns. Zach Hyman is currently out and placed on LTIR, which could keep him out until November.
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