We now may finally know why the Red Wings traded Jake Walman

Look, it's the dog days of the NHL's offseason so there's not a lot of hockey news out there.

There is, however, always a healthy discussion of the sport on Reddit at the subreddit r/hockey. Almost any day of the offseason there are folks discussing the game and recounting stories from years past. I spend some time each day trawling the site looking for interesting content to engage with and today I happened upon an interesting theory.

In a post about Worst Moves Made by Great GMs there was a discussion about the Detroit Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman and his decision to trade defenseman Jake Walman, along with a 2nd round pick to the San Jose Sharks for literally nothing last offseason. All the Red Wings received in the deal was Future Considerations. The Sharks meanwhile ending up shipping Walman to the Edmonton Oilers for a 1st round pick and a prospect just months later.

So... how does a player go from negative value to netting a top pick and a prospect in a matter of months?

Yzerman has been tight lipped about the strange deal ever since it went down and Red Wings fans have been trying to sort it out for over a year now, but Reddit users may have solved the case.

The theory, as told by Reddit users discofrislanders, pyl_time, LucasRaymondGOAT and matt_minderbinder, goes that Yzerman thought he had a trade lined up with the New York Rangers to acquire Jacob Trouba. However, the Rangers hadn't approved the trade with Trouba, who ultimately shut it down with his no-trade clause. Yzerman was simply one step ahead in trying to clear out space by trading Walman and ended up with nothing to show for it.

Some comments from the discussion:

Definitely think there's some truth to the thought that Yzerman thought he was getting Trouba and he preemptively made room for him

The rumor was there was an agreed upon trade but the NYR front office never cleared it with Trouba so it was nixed. Emily Kaplan reported it right before the trade deadline when Walman got traded.

But I agree endlessly, either offer him in a massive 2nd for Walman trade to the league or waive him. Don’t give him AND a second up.

There also seems to be some sentiment that Walman simply wasn't committed enough and that he maybe had a clash with captain Dylan Larkin.

It was summer so it wasn't a huge pressing need to make that change quickly. Down the stretch the year before last Walman had some possible injury issues but also posted from the beach. During last training camp Larkin made some cryptic statements (starting at about 4:05) about some guys lacking commitment down the stretch but it was addressed in the offseason. Other players made similarly cryptic comments. The only thing that makes sense is that there's a lot more to the story and that we'll likely never know the whole truth. Yzerman's far from perfect but he's not a dumbass and the way he handled this made it seem like something he had to cut bait on right away. It sucks not knowing the truth but the Trouba thing wouldn't have forced his hand that quickly.

Do we finally have the behind the scenes details that Red Wings fans have been searching for for over a year?