Edmonton Oilers announce terrible news on Jake Walman injury

Walman made a return to practice earlier this week, but has since missed another game and multiple practices. He appeared to suffer a setback from his undisclosed injury, and now the team has finally confirmed some real details on the issue.

After missing another practice today, Coach Knoblauch finally confirmed that Walman is no longer considered day-to-day. He'll miss up to 2 weeks or more with a deep bone bruise.

Walman blocked a shot against the Tampa Bay Lightning almost 3 weeks ago on November 20th that held him out for the rest of the game. While it's encouraging he didn't suffer a bone break, this deep bone bruise is keeping him out for a significant amount of time.

Since joining the Oilers, Walman has missed a signriciant about of time with injury. He as out for an extended period before last year's playoffs, and missed time with a separate injury earlier this season.

The Oilers have begun to turn around their season in his absence, but missing Walman still lowers the ceiling of the blue line significantly. When he's at his best, Walman is a high end two-way defender with a physical streak and great passing ability.

Alec Regula and Ty Emberson have stepped up with Walman out of the lineup, and have greatly improved their play since the beginning of the season. The Oilers will have a tough choice to make as to which player comes out when Walman's healthy.

Hopefully he can recover on the quicker side of his return timeline, and the Oilers can get back to their full lineup after the holiday break.