Versatile Walman Becoming an Asset for Red Wings

For the past decade, something has been off in the NHL.

The Detroit Red Wings, the old-timey Original Six franchise with 11 Stanley Cup titles and whose hometown is dubbed “Hockeytown,” have largely been an afterthought since the mid-2010s.

As Sunbelt franchises with far less decorated histories (Vegas Golden Knights, Tampa Bay Lightning, Los Angeles Kings) have hoisted the Cup at the conclusion of recent seasons, Detroit’s unfathomable 25-year playoff streak (1991-2016) that included four championships has become more and more of a fleeting memory for a Red Wings fan base wondering when the current rebuilding process will come to fruition.

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As the first couple months of this NHL season suggest, it may be in the not-so-distant future. The Red Wings, atop the Atlantic Division leaders and firmly in the mix for an Eastern Conference playoff berth, have a nucleus of promising young players, one of whom is 27-year-old Jewish defenseman Jake Walman, who hails from just-over-the-border Toronto. A few years removed from seeing meager playing time for the St. Louis Blues, Walman is coming into his own as a rock-steady blueliner for a Red Wings team eyeing its first playoff series victory since spring 2013.

“It’s been a treat playing for these guys,” said Walman when speaking to the AJT last month. “It’s close to home – Detroit’s close to Toronto. I just think that I’ve gotten a pretty good opportunity here to show what I can do and prepare for moments like this to take advantage of. All the adversity that I’ve gone through in my pro career, at the beginning, has kind of tested me for moments like this and I’m ready to show it.”

Although he’s been saddled with a litany of nagging ailments in his young NHL career, getting shortchanged by St. Louis, at least from Walman’s perspective, is the true culprit behind his relatively limited production in the early going.

“I wouldn’t say adversity was injuries,” noted Walman, who’s on pace for his first-ever double-digit goals season – on Dec. 2 against the Montreal Canadiens he potted the game-winner in overtime before busting out his now-customary Griddy dance — and well on his way toward eclipsing his career-high in points (coincidentally, 18). “I mean that by playing behind guys in St. Louis where I was before and not getting any trust from those guys there in St. Louis. I got an opportunity where Steve [Yzerman] saw something in me. I kind of owe it to these guys to prove that I can do it. They have the trust in me so it makes me feel good. That’s the type of team that you want to play for.”

Detroit’s also the type of team that has been synonymous with NHL royalty for nearly a century. Some of hockey’s towering legends – Gordie Howe, Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov – have enjoyed their glory years in the Motor City, while elevating the Red Wings to the gold standard of the NHL for generations.

“There’s a huge history being an Original Six team,” acknowledged Walman, who came of age in the shadow of a Canadian Original Six team (Toronto Maple Leafs), but has dual American-Canadian citizenship and actually skated for his mother’s hometown college (Providence) before embarking on his stateside NHL career. “Every night it’s fun to put the jersey on. All the alumni there are, we see it every day in the room. The guys that have been playing for the Red Wings before. It’s just good to represent that and keep that going.”

While he may never be in the same conversation as Howe, Yzerman, or Fedorov, Walman, whose off-ice passions include Fortnite and hearty Texas Roadhouse meals, is representing the Jewish athletic community by being one of the many Jewish skaters making significant contributions to NHL rosters this decade.

The Toronto native, who last February signed a three-year contract extension with Detroit, has proven he can be a shutdown defender against the rush, leveraging his tree trunk legs and overall litheness to kill plays and help shuffle the puck the other way. To that end, Walman has cultivated a league-wide reputation for devoting his summers toward getting in ship shape condition. After all, the next few years are his window to make his mark on the game, and there’s no telling when it will close.

“Opportunity is a huge thing,” he added. “I’m in a fortunate position where I have the trust of the coaches and teammates. I just want to try to prove to everybody, including them and the city of Detroit, that I can help us be a really good team. And I want to be a huge part of that. It’s exciting times.”

Detroit head coach Derek Lalonde, who refers to Walman as an “unbelievable human,” had the following to share: “He’s been a really good player over the last two years. He’s got a great skill set. I know it’s a little bit of a cliché, but he can do it all. He can skate, he’s got a great stick, he can shoot it. I just think he’s put it all together.”

Opportunity is a huge thing. I’m in a fortunate position where I have the trust of the coaches and teammates. I just want to try to prove to everybody, including them and the city of Detroit, that I can help us be a really good team. And I want to be a huge part of that. It’s exciting times.

That he is one of many current Jewish NHL players is not lost on Walman. Last year, when the Detroit Free Press was polling the Red Wings’ locker room about their holiday rituals, Walman opened up a little about his background by explaining, “My mom grew up Christian, Catholic, and my dad’s side of the family grew up Jewish. I consider myself Jewish, but our Christmas tree is like a leaf-less birch tree with lights, so it’s pretty cool. Then we have eight days of Hanukkah, and you are supposed to open up a present every day. We light one candle every night, so that’s pretty much what we do with the family.”

As it turns out, when Walman is toward the end of his current three-year pact with Detroit, he may not be the only Jewish Red Wing: in 2021, the franchise drafted Israeli-American defenseman Shai Buium, who will soon be joining the organization when his college days are over.