It appears a veteran Edmonton Oilers defenceman will be watching Wednesday’s game from the press box. Jake Walman skated as the seventh defenceman at practice Tuesday, left out of the team’s three defensive pairings with the Oilers set to host the Calgary Flames to end a five-game homestand. The 30-year-old joined the Oilers from the San Jose Sharks at the 2025 trade deadline and played a key role during their playoff run. He then signed a seven-year contract extension worth $7 million per season last fall, a deal that began this season. When asked whether benching a player who appears to be part of the team’s long-term plans is a good idea, head coach Mike Babcock said it’s his job “to make the decision to help the team win.” “That’s what I do each and every night,” he told reporters after practice. “It’s personal to the guy, but it’s not personal to me ... It’s the job, and we go about doing it. We try to put the guys in to have success. That’s what we’re doing.” The six-foot-one, 215-pound Walman has averaged 14:45 of ice time in nine games this season. He has one assist while playing primarily on the third pairing alongside Ty Emberson. He also missed three games earlier this month with an upper-body injury. Dickinson in? Jason Dickinson skated between wingers Mathieu Joseph and Ike Howard at practice, signalling the centre is close to, if not fully, ready to return after missing the last six games with a lower-body injury. The 31-year-old centre, who signed a five-year contract extension with the Oilers this summer, missed the first three games of the season after aggravating an ankle injury from last spring during training camp. He returned for three games before landing back on the injured list. The latest setback was unrelated to his ankle, Dickinson said. “It’s connected all together in the lack of reps and being able to get everything to the point that I would normally like it to be at the end of summer,” he said. “This time, (we took) an abundance of caution, make sure that I’m definitely ready to go, and that I’m not constantly in and out of the lineup, because nobody wants that.” Dickinson’s return would come as fellow forward Zach Hyman appears headed out of the lineup with a concussion. The top-six winger left during the second period of Monday’s loss to the Detroit Red Wings after hitting his head against the glass following a clean hit along the boards from defenceman Andreas Englund. Hyman, who has one goal in five games this season, already missed five of the Oilers’ first six games with an upper-body injury suffered during the preseason. “Any time you get injured twice, it’s not a good sign,” Babcock said Monday night. “He’s a very important piece for us, so that wasn’t fun to watch.” Ekholm concussion scare Defenceman Mattias Ekholm was back alongside usual partner Evan Bouchard at Tuesday’s practice after missing the Oilers’ last two games. Ekholm fell and struck the side of his head on the ice after a hit from Carolina Hurricanes forward William Carrier during Edmonton’s 6-5 shootout win Thursday. “It was scary at first, like my legs just kind of gave out and couldn’t really get up to sit on my knees, but as soon as I got down the tunnel, it was like somebody flipped the light switch on, and I was kind of back,” he said after practice. Ekholm added he has never suffered a concussion. “I’ve been feeling good since five minutes after it happened.”
