Here is a little exercise.. xGF% ranking of Defensemen compared to who's on the ice with them (player #2) ..

First up is Walman

There is the list of Oilers xGF% "with" Walman (ranked lowest to highest) ..

Then the accompanying stats of xGF% of Walman "without player #2" .. and then xGF% of player #2 "without" Walman ..

Kind of rudimentary but it gives you a rough idea if its Walman causing the poor xGF% or the guy he's playing with..

If the xGF% is roughly the same with or without Walman.. I put a grey dot beside the name.. if its worse without Walman I put a red dot.. if its better without Walman I put a green dot.

A lot of green dots indicates it might be player #1 (Walman)

The red line indicates where you need to go down the list of players until player #1 (Walman) xGF% is close to 50% .. might indicate who the players are he's playing with that can drag his xGF% up to 50%.

Note: none of the stats factor in quality of comp, defensive starts, minutes with each player #2.. etc which could skew the stats.

[Updated on: Sat, 07 March 2026 22:01]

McDAVID! Oh YEAH Baby!! (Thank you Lord!)
Tic-Tac-Tao!
Keep on Rockin' in the Free World

Nurse

This (fewer green dots than Walman) almost hints that Walman is worse than Nurse right now.. but don't get me wrong.. still not NHL contender defenseman quality.

[Updated on: Sat, 07 March 2026 20:15]

McDAVID! Oh YEAH Baby!! (Thank you Lord!)
Tic-Tac-Tao!
Keep on Rockin' in the Free World

Oiler NHL Edge stats.. the "top" speed is not the best comparison stat.. more important if you're able to be mobile "with" speed.. and how often you use it.. if its just straight line speed it's not as useful..
The top speeds and average speeds seem to show a disconnect.. a guy might have a top speed but not using it.. or the top speed stat is a low repetition anomaly..

This the Oiler Defence this year.. (no Murphy)

Notice Walman..






And this is Murphy.. looks like we traded for the slowest d-man available at the trade deadline! (good thing he's UFA)

So this is the Oiler "ANALYTICS" department at work?

And then we pair Walman and Murphy together..






The only hope with Walman is that last year his top speed was higher...maybe he does have an injury.. but it can't be serious if he's playing full time.

[Updated on: Sat, 07 March 2026 21:18]

McDAVID! Oh YEAH Baby!! (Thank you Lord!)
Tic-Tac-Tao!
Keep on Rockin' in the Free World