The Oilers have a LOOMING problem...

There is a looming problem here and a major decision to make as Jake Wallman had a rough month of the season being a healthy scratch three times already and this is extremely considering the fact that he is entering the first year of a brand new deal. Welcome back to Orders Digest. I am your host Joseph Greco and in today's video we're going to be taking a look at what has gone wrong. For Jake Wallman in the first month of the season, as he has been on the wrong end of a healthy scratch multiple times and has already seemingly lost a lot of faith from his head coach, Mike Babcock, the team collected two shutouts in two of the three games in which Jake Wallman was out of the lineup, as well as the fact that he's already missed a game or two due to injuries, despite the fact that he came into the season so proud, proclaiming he's never been this healthy and this good of shape in his entire career. And despite what he said to the press. The results have not been there. Obviously, taking a look at his time on ice, it is clear Mike Babcock has not been too pleased with Jake Wallman as in the games Wallman has played. He's averaging less than 14 minutes time on ice and in the last two games, pretty much barely touching 13 minutes or less than 13 minutes, which is incredibly concerning for a guy who signed a 7x7 and is entering the first year of that deal. So $7 million a year for the next seven seasons, getting less than 14 minutes time on ice, getting bottom pair minutes when he's in the lineup, being scratched three consecutive games and has yet to really play top six minutes. He had maybe three games where he was getting 14 to 15 minutes time on ice. That is just not ideal. You are looking at a player who should be playing a lot more. And unfortunately, the results just haven't been there. And his play on both ends of the puck haven't been there. Not really scoring any points, not really doing anything defensively. That gives you a whole lot of confidence. And Mike Babcock, when expressing the reason behind his first scratch, which came against the Calgary Flames not too long ago, Mike Babcock pretty much indicated the fact that his job is to watch and pick the guys that give him the best chance to win, indicating Clearly, he feels Jake Wallman's play has not allowed the team to find success, and unfortunately for Jake Wallman, he came back against the Devils. They lost in a game where in the second period, they were heavily outplayed, and in two of the three games he didn't play, the team got a shutout. So obviously, at the time of recording this, I am not fully aware whether or not Jake Wallman will be in the lineup tonight against the Anaheim Ducks. Should he be in the lineup? This is a major, major game for Jake Wallman, who needs to prove to Mike Babcock that he can play on both sides of the ice. So looking to try and get a point, looking to try and get a few strong defensive plays. Should he be in the lineup tonight? As I mentioned, he did return against the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night in their 4-3 shootout loss, or should I say their tie against the New Jersey Devils. Less than 12 minutes time on ice, extremely alarming considering, again, 7x7, two shots on goal, one block, not really enough results. You're looking for more on both ends of the puck for Jake Wallman to stay in the lineup. And ultimately, the biggest reason as to why this is a concern is because he is in the first year of his extension. As I keep mentioning, he has signed a nice 7x7 deal with the Oilers after a very good Post-season run when he was first acquired by the Edmonton Oilers, and then he signed a seven-year extension with the Oilers, $49 million, which is $7 million a year. Obviously, at the start of the season, he missed a game early in the season with a lower body injury, and he has been scratched three times and is playing third-pairing minutes, mainly with Shakir Mukhamedulin or with Ty Emberson. The fact of the matter is Shakir Mukhamedulin and Wallman don't work well together. Shaq works well with Emberson and Wallman works well with Emberson. So Emberson clearly needs to be the guy on that third pair. So now you're looking at the fact that Jake Wallman is battling for a lineup spot with a guy who was just acquired in trade with the San Jose Sharks that in the offseason for Darnell Nurse, you would expect Wallman to be a guy who you don't even hesitate to think that he's going to be in or out of the lineup. He signed a seven by seven extension. In October of last year, again, in the postseason, I've said this so many times already this year, Jake Wallman in the postseason, in his two years in an Oilers uniform, has been one of the best Oilers in the postseason. And it's very disappointing to see him deal with injuries time in and night in and night out. It's very difficult to see him not play well, because when he does play well, he's a very valuable player to the top four. He can move the puck well. He can really energize the team with a big goal or a big play, big block on the defensive end. But unfortunately, so far this season, I haven't even seen a flash of Jake Wallman from the postseason. So maybe there's something there towards health, which if that's the case, he needs to maybe take a long stretch of games off. However, I feel if it were health, he would just shut down for a little bit. It clearly just is. He isn't feeling confident. He's not playing his absolute best. Obviously, when you start to look at some of the details of this deal, one of the biggest issues is you signed a player to a seven by $7 million deal. And he has never really played a lot of games in his career. 63 games in 2022 and 2023. 65 games is his career high. So you signed a player to almost a $50 million deal, and they've never played more than 65 games in their career. He played 53 last season and already this year, we know he is not going to hit more than 80 games played. If we are lucky. So taking a look at that contract in the first year of that extension, not looking too pretty for the Oilers. And again, it's a player who, when you look at the AAV and you look at the term and you look at his age and you look at what he could bring to the team, it's someone that on paper you wouldn't expect or want to be healthy scratched. But we are at the point in the season already, just 15, 16 games in, that the team has played better without him. He has not played well. And you want him to try and find a way to get confidence. If that confidence doesn't come soon, you're looking at a situation where is this guy going to have to get traded? Is this guy going to have to be moved? What is the situation with Jake Wallman? I currently am still on the board of, I think last year was a bad year for him. And I do believe that there is a bounce back still potential for Jake Wallman. Long season, he's going to have opportunities. It just, he needs to find some confidence sometime soon. And I really do hope he can find some confidence Unfortunately, the eye test he is not passing both statistically he's not passing he's been a heavier minus this year than last year, he's doing a better job of blocking shots thus far in a short sample size, and he's doing a better job, slightly with takeaways per game but even then, nothing really too impressive. The big glaring issue here is the team is better when he is off the ice. So when he's on the ice, his expected contribution is a 25% goals for a 42.9% expected goals when he's on the ice and 51.5% of the shot attempts when he's on the ice. The team is playing significantly better and expects more goals when he is off the ice and the team expects less goals when he is off the ice. Not ideal for Jake Wallman. The team plays better defensively when he's off the ice, both with my eyes, I can see that, and through the stats, I can see that. And the team is obviously contributing more when he's not on the ice. Offensively, obviously, he's not really being paired with, you know, Bouchard, or he's not taking shifts with McDavid line. So a lot of the offense is coming from those top-end players. But in saying that, when you pay a guy $7 million for seven years, you expect Jake Wallman to maybe be one of the guys that can drive a little bit of offense for this team. In the blue line, but again, still kind of early in the season. Don't want to jump to any conclusions. I would say if this play is continuing until the end of the month, then we have to sound the alarms for a guy making that much money and is playing this bad. So before we move on to take a look at tonight's matchup against the Ducks, let me know what do you think Edmonton should do? Do you continue to play him on the third pair? Or I've seen some people suggest maybe just give him... Top four minute responsibility, force him into play because maybe he thrives better when getting more minutes. So let me know your thoughts. I see some people saying with Ryan Shea, you could have a little more flexibility on that left side with how you deploy players. So how would you deploy Jake Wallman? Scratch him, play him on the bottom pair, or would you try and force him into finding his game in the top four? Moving on, let's take a look at tonight's matchup against the Anaheim Ducks as the Oilers will open a homestand against the Anaheim Ducks. The last time these two teams faced off, the Oilers did get the better of them in a 5-2 victory on October 7th at the Honda Center. So the Oilers hoping to get another win against the team that kind of spanked them around in the postseason last year. Obviously, the Ducks were really, really hitting a stride last year. And unfortunately for the Ducks, so far this season, haven't really been able to find that Having said that, the Ducks are a very dangerous team offensively, especially when it comes to the power play. One of, if not the best power play in the National Hockey League. Especially when you look at the names, Leo Carlson, Cutter Gauthier, Jackson LaCombe at the point. Those are three of the best young talents in the National Hockey League, in my opinion. And the way that these guys move the puck, you got Bennett Senecal, obviously, making his contributions as well. Grindelin, who's a very versatile veteran player as well. So very good power play, the best in the National Hockey League against, again, an Oilers specialty teams. Or should I say a penalty kill that hasn't really been the best. Last time these two teams faced off just about a month ago. The Ducks really had their way on the power play against the Edmonton Oilers, especially because how fast they move the puck and how reactive the Oilers are when teams move the puck in this new aggressive approach to the penalty kill. So keep an eye out on the power plays. If you're the Oilers, you want to try and stay out of the box and just kill any opportunity that they get. Because you don't want this team on the power play too often and you don't want them getting momentum as one player in particular for the Ducks has really found his stride in the last few games. That is Cutter Gauthier with a three goal game streak. He's got two back to back hat tricks. So he's been red hot. He's got eight goals in his last three games does Cutter Gauthier. He's found the back of the net very, very often and eight goals in his last. Um, three games puts them up to 10 total on the season, 15 points with 10 of those points coming on the power play. So a team that very much so does rely on the power play. So for the Edmonton Oilers, again, hate to repeat myself, just stay out of the box, be a discipline tonight, because this is a team that most of their offense comes from the power play. And they certainly have been struggling defensively and in net as despite the fact that in their last five games, the Ducks have scored five goals. They've also given up 3-4. Four, five, six goals in all those games. So a team that has found their stride offensively, five or more goals in their last five games, really still struggling on the back end. So interesting matchup for the Oilers tonight. Hopefully Tristan Jarry can continue his play that he has had as of late. And hopefully the team can continue to get contributions from depth like Nugent Hopkins, Colton Dowg, Kasperi Kapanen, and so on and so forth. But that's all I have for you guys in today's video. If you enjoyed, give the video a thumbs up. Subscribe if you're new, and I'll catch you in the next video. Toodles.