Insider Reveals Why The Detroit Red Wings Blundered And Traded Away Top Defenseman Jake Walman

The past few months have meant many changes for Jake Walman, who was signed to an extension by the Detroit Red Wings before being traded away as a salary cap dump to the San Jose Sharks.

Then, the Sharks would flip him to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for a first-round pick, and unsurprisingly, that saw plenty of backlash for Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman, who completely fumbled the handling of a very valuable asset.

While few details were given, reporter Andy Strickland has suggested that something was going on behind the scenes that made Detroit want to make a deal, but in hindsight, it's something they likely could have handled much, much better.

Unsurprisingly, Walman was caught completely off guard by the deal after he had just inked a new extension, stating that he felt like he was simply thrown away by the Red Wings after the trade went through.

We may never quite know exactly what it was about Walman or whether it was a specific incident that caused Yzerman to move on from the talented defenseman, but after giving up an asset to move him to a team that then got a first-round pick out of him, it's safe to say that the heat is turning up on the Red Wings GM after this and several other bad moves.