Updated 4x at 12:28 PM: Per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman:
Jake Walman and DET avoid arbitration at one-year, $1.05M (one-way). With Walman (The Pride of Armour Heights) signing…arbitration cases are done for this summer— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) August 10, 2022
The Red Wings have yet to re-sign Filip Zadina, who is a restricted free agent without arbitration rights; and Walman will be on the LTIR to start the season as he recovers from shoulder surgery.
Update #1:
Detroit #LGRW update after signing Jake Walman.
Cap space: $9,246,111
Roster Size: 23 (12F – 9D – 2G – 1 IR)
RFAs remaining:
Filip Zadinahttps://t.co/H7WCJ5rN69— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) August 10, 2022
Update #2: The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan is confirming the news:
Walman, 26, was acquired along with forward Oskar Sundqvist at last season’s trade deadline from St. Louis, in a trade for defenseman Nick Leddy.
In 19 games with the Wings, Walman had four points (all assists) with a minus-6 plus-minus rating and four penalty minutes. Combined with his St. Louis statistics, Walman had three goals and seven assists in 51 games.
Walman (6-foot-2, 215-pounds) will miss training camp and the start of the upcoming regular season after undergoing off-season shoulder surgery. General manager Steve Yzerman said it was uncertain when Walman would be ready to return to the lineup.
Walman’s signing leaves forward Filip Zadina, a restricted free agent with no arbitration rights, as the lone unsigned Red Wing heading into next month’s training camp.
Update #3: MLive’s Ansar Khan confirms:
The Detroit Red Wings avoided a Thursday arbitration hearing with Jake Walman, signing the 26-year-old defenseman today to a one-year contract worth $1.05 million.
Walman, 26, had goals and four assists in 19 games with the Red Wings after being acquired from St. Louis on March 21, along with Oskar Sundqvist and a 2023 second-round pick, for Nick Leddy.
Walman will miss the start of the season due to offseason shoulder surgery. A timeline for his return has not been announced.
Walman (6-2, 215) has appeared in 74 career games, picking up four goals and eight assists.
Update #4: The Free Press’s Helene St. James attempts to discern whether Walman will make the Red Wings’ lineup:
The Wings haven’t given a timeline for his return, but if everyone else is healthy, Walman will find himself in a crowded job market. The Wings are deep on left-side defense, with general manager Steve Yzerman adding Ben Chiarot, Olli Määttä and Robert Hägg in free agency. Chiarot and Määttä project to be in the top four paired with Moritz Seider and Filip Hronek.
There’s also 2021 first-round pick Simon Edvinsson, who is expected to challenge for a job with the Wings in his first season in North America. Edvinsson is currently playing for Sweden at the World Juniors, and earlier this summer impressed Yzerman at the Wings’ development camp.
Odds are Walman will be needed, though: Last season the Wings needed 12 defensemen to get through the season; the year before, it was 17.
