Jake Walman was one of my favorite surprises this year. Most of you know I had to take the 21-22 season off of even watching sports. Jumping back in last year was tough as apparently moving trucks from St. Louis had made steady trips to Motown.
Once I got to see Walman play as Seider’s linemate, I got to see some good aggressive skating. If you watch the video above, he has some nice edges as he works through “mega pucks” and sets up for shots. There’s just something very smooth about his linear motion.
Keep in mind, I stink at skating. (That may be generous). However, going back to the 2008 cup, Lidstrom and Rafalski always struck me as using their strides and edges well when walking the blue line to swap to their off sides. That was sort of a turning point in “how” I watched the game. Who has “choppy” strides, and who looks like they’re floating out there. Walman isn’t a Lidstrom or Rafalski, but his strides are nice and his style complemented Seider well last year.
I hope you get to enjoy the video, and let me know your thoughts on Walman. It’s open forum and some of you bring views that I enjoy adding to my hockey lexicon.
**for those interested, I’m expecting big news out of ESPN/Disney by or before the August 8th investor call. I’ll probably sit through about 90 minutes of it. There’s not much else on that front, but I’ll keep you informed as best I can on where and how you can watch the Wings this upcoming season.
Detroit Red Wings Blogger • 
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