The Edmonton Oilers extended a handful of players before the start of the 2025-26 season.

Chief among them was Connor McDavid, who agreed to a two-year deal worth $12.5 million, the same annual average value as his previous contract. That set the deadline for the Oilers’ window of contention.

With the extra money, the Oilers extended Mattias Ekholm to a three-year deal two days after McDavid’s extension. They also extended Jake Walman to a seven-year deal carrying a $7 million cap hit on the same day as McDavid’s extension. The question is, did Walman’s extension come too early?

Here’s the skinny of Walman’s career before joining the Oilers. He was a late bloomer, drafted in 2014 and only making his National Hockey League debut in 2019-20. Walman became a regular with the Detroit Red Wings in 2022-23 thanks to being traded there before the 2022 trade deadline. In his two full seasons there, Walman set career-highs with the Original Six team.

In 2023-24, he scored 12 goals and 21 points in 63 games, but missed time down the stretch. That off-season, the Red Wings attached a second-round pick to Walman in an attempt to clear cap space, sending him to the Sharks. With the 2024-25 Sharks being as bad as they were, Walman flourished with increased playing time, scoring six goals and 32 points in just 50 games.

Then the Oilers came knocking before the 2025 trade deadline. The price was a 2026 first and an older prospect, Carl Berglund, who spent the 2025-26 season in Czechia. As for Walman, he finished the season with a goal and eight points in 15 games, playing second pair minutes, especially after Mattias........

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