Fantasy Hockey Focus: Role Changes - Defender Edition

It is the early days of the 2024-25 NHL regular season but there have been significant role changes on various blue lines that are relevant for fantasy managers. There are plenty of ice time improvements/declines on the blue line with fantasy relevance so let’s not waste time and get to some of the biggest changes from the 2023-24 season. Naturally, this will not include rookies. Let’s start with the improvements. 

Jake Walman (San Jose Sharks)

No player in the league is seeing a bigger improvement in their power play role than Walman. Scarcely used with the Detroit Red Wings, Walman is in excess of an 80% power play share for the Sharks:  

He is still being used in a second-pair role at even strength, and he won’t stay over 80% of the power play share, but Walman could reliably add 2:30 per