Interesting Details Surface in Walman Trade to Oilers

The Edmonton Oilers are reportedly trading for San Jose Sharks defenseman Jake Walman. The trade hasn’t been officially announced and might not be for a bit, but several insiders and reputable sources are saying this trade is near the finish line. Why isn’t it done and what does the trade tell us about the Oilers deadline plans? That’s an interesting part of this transaction.

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Sounds Like No Salary Retention

Because the Sharks had no slots left to retain salary, the Oilers needed to take on the full weight of Walman’s $3.4 million cap hit or get another team involved. It sounds like Edmonton is taking it all.

Related: Insider Says Oilers Working on Trade with Sharks for Jake Walman

As per Ryan Rishaug:

“Sounds like it’ll be a conditional pick and a prospect for Walman once it gets finalized. Also looking like Oilers may be taking the full cap hit confirming the sense we had earlier today that they’d most likely be using the Kane money. Could be a bit before all is sorted.”

There was chatter in the morning on Thursday that Kane wasn’t as close to returning as some might have expected. He had not been able to put consecutive on-ice sessions together and the belief was that the Oilers might find out quickly that he wasn’t going to return in the regular season. Had that been true, it would have freed up $5.125 million in cap space. If the Oilers are taking on $3.4 of Walman, that would leave them a bit over $1.7 million. It will be intriguing to see if the Oilers intend to use it.

Some Roster Snag Issues with the Walman Trade

Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports, “Sounds like #Oilers have some roster constraint issues (tonight’s lineup was an adventure), and rosters expand after midnight tonight. So, Edmonton is on their way to completing a deal to acquiring Walman, but may be some time before they can complete/ announce it.”

This could be little more than Edmonton’s need to call up players on an emergency basis seeing as Mattias Ekholm and John Klingberg were both out of the lineup against the Montreal Canadiens.

This doesn’t mean the Oilers necessarily have another trade in the works before they can announce the Walman deal.

This Deal Will Get Done

Essentially, the trade is complete. The Oilers just have to dot a few Is and cross a few Ts before they can officially say it’s done. If the team sends down some of their callups, that could happen immediately after tonight’s game.

It’s not clear what the return to San Jose is. The sense is that Edmonton is trading a high pick in the deal, so there might be a few details that are yet to be uncovered when all is said and done.

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