Media Avail (7/2): Walman

Media Avail (7/2): Walman

Max go ahead Hey Jake uh Max Miller here from the hockey news just uh what was your initial reaction to the trade were were you expecting it kind of you know it surprised me for you know personally what was your reaction to it uh yeah I think um well first off I I guess I’d say that the hockey world didn’t really expect it because there was a lot of uh I saw a bunch of tweets about it so um I don’t think anybody really expected it um I’m not sure if the wings expect it I didn’t expect it but uh uh when I got the call obviously I was a little bit shocked um just at the whole whole trade thing I didn’t think that was in the question but uh yeah I mean after being able to digest it a little bit and telling my family I thought um I was real excited about it I think um I I’ve heard so much about San Jose and um I was just around a bunch of people that live there and and have played for San Jose and um I couldn’t be more excited right now where where were you when you found out were you just at home obviously it’s the summertime so you know guys you know we had a player found out they were golfing when they found out they were drafted yeah I was actually I was actually on my way to pick up my buddy and we were on our way to Vegas because I was doing the nhlpa meetings for Detroit um I was the rep that weekend and um I got a call from Steve Eiserman and um I wasn’t uh I I mean he didn’t really have any reason to call me other than I guess to tell me I was traded but it started off kind of how summer going and everything and then waited for him to get to the point and um when he told me it was almost like a little bit surreal I uh obviously like I like I told you I didn’t think that trade was in the equation but uh almost felt a little bit of a dream so um once it kind of settled in my head I called my family told them called my brother my best friends and um off off I was in my thoughts what do you what do you know about San Jose and the Sharks obviously you would you know you guys came so close to a playoff spot at the end of last season the sharks are in a little bit of a different situation a couple years behind but you know C bini Will Smith what what do you know and what what excites you about the Sharks organization yeah well um first off I think there’s a lot to be excited about um in the Sharks organization and um I mean as a city too I think a lot of people should be excited about what’s to come um whether that’s one two three four years from now I think um there’s a lot to build on and um obviously seeing the shark success in the past um when they’re buzzing it’s a good place to play so um I think there’s a lot to be excited about I actually met uh Macklin after he got drafted um that night and um he’s pumped I’m I’m really excited uh that he’s going to bring some uh high energy and and same with uh Smitty there he’s going to bring high energy I haven’t met him yet but um it’ll be good to get the youth in and I think uh that’s kind of the way the game’s trending so obviously like you said Detroit was kind of in that similar situation a few years ago and um almost that rebuilding stage but um I think the foundation that the sharks are creating right now is um you can’t beat that so I’m really excited about it um hopefully that I can be a huge part of that future too thanks Jake yeah go ahead Shane Hey Jake CH Pang San Jose hockey now welcome to San Jose thanks you mentioned that you were hanging out with some people that were with the sharks around the Sharks was that in Vegas at nhlpa meetings or was that kind of before that yeah I bumped into I’ll tell you who it was I bumped into jumbo there so he was uh he was walking around with uh Keller and Matthews and um I hadn’t I hadn’t met those other two but obviously uh went out to jumbo and said hi introduce myself and um he was really excited um I think he he for sure gave me a lot of insight L this day and um seems like a great guy so um kind of took some pointers off him and um yeah just got me more excited about the opportunity here not that you need to be sold on San Jose but how does jumbo sell you on San Jose uh he asked me if I like the golf first I think that was his thing um said there’s a it’s a great spot to live um and obviously when the team’s doing well like you saw when when he was there um it’s a great place to play so um I’m excited I think the the future’s bright that’s kind of what I look forward to and um obviously after talking with management and coaches uh after the trade happened it’s just kind of solidified that excitement in me and um being able to be a big part of a a transitioning team moving forward and kind of bringing that um I mean I wouldn’t call myself a veteran by any chance but um I kind can pick uh little spots from where I played before in St Louis and and Detroit kind of what it takes and um the team and and how a team is built on what it takes to to really win so um hopefully we can get that going and and the young guys can uh really feed off some of the older guys some players wouldn’t be so excited to join a rebuild but you seem really excited so what makes you so excited to embrace all this yeah you know i’ I’ve um I mean I’ve always been a um huge huge advocate of of opportunity and um I’ve always said that I wanted to play where I feel wanted and um like I said it was a little bit of a shock when I got that call and I I didn’t know who the next call was going to come from but um the next call was from Mike Greer and then our coach um I just really got Good Vibes um I’m a viby person as you’ve probably seen um I kind of like uh when people are upbeat and excited about situations and I really felt that I really felt that um there’s a there’s a huge opportunity to be a part a part of something that is uh really looking exciting going forward so that’s kind of where I get my excitement um that feeling that feeling of being wanted as a hockey player um and even as an athlete as a person is just uh you can’t can’t compare that feeling to anything it’s just uh kind of want make uh I just want to kind of show that um being wanted I really want to play where I’m wanted going back to that trade call with Steve Eiserman did he give kind of a further explanation for why he made that trade uh no there really wasn’t uh there really really wasn’t much to it um when the call started I didn’t even think that uh that’s where it was going to go but um when he got to the point and and told me I was traded the first question I said was where am I traded and um when he said San Jose I had uh no kind of previous thought about San Jose I didn’t know anybody there or um I mean I guess I know a couple guys on the team but yeah that’s kind of all he said you’ve been traded as San Jose and thanks for everything and um that’s kind of where we left it I like I said I was shocked and that was kind of one of the reasons I was shocked I didn’t really know what the reasoning behind it was but uh I mean that’s why they’re they’re leading the pack the general managers kind of do what uh they think is best right thanks Jak yeah Curtis go ahead Hey Jake this is Curtis pasela from the San Jose Mercury News um know you’ve averaged about 20 minutes a night here these last couple of Seasons uh do you kind of at the point of your career here you kind of see yourself as a as a top pair defenseman now you you know at this stage you’re career I guess yeah um that’s what I strive to be um I was in that role this past year and the year before and um I just kind of relish that opportunity to to to play against the top guys and and that’s how it works obviously when you’re a a top pairing person you get those top matchups and every night A A new challenge and um that was kind of the biggest thing where I had to transition um from coming into the league I um the first couple Seasons it wasn’t like that and I had to build my way up and um you kind of know the difference between playing against a fourth and third line versus a second and first line it’s it’s a different challenge um got to be sharp every night but at the same time you look at that pres Scout every day and um before the game uh when you’re napping you’re just fired up to get that opportunity and that’s kind of how I’ve molded my game I just get excited for those matchups and um half the time it’s in the dzone but um I love that I think it’s uh I’m a competitive person and I always want to go against the top guys yeah I was just going to say I mean you kind of feel that you want to be out there you’re late in the third period in in a close game that’s kind of what um you you kind of a role you you enjoy I guess yeah exactly it’s uh anything to help the team um if that’s what they see me as that’s that’s what I want to be and um like I said that I feel like um with my competitiveness and kind of how I’ve been brought up with uh kind of trying to relish moments of opportunity I think um there’s nothing there’s nowhere else I want to play I want to I want to play against the top guys and it’s a challenge every night had a 12 goals last year what what was sort of the key to uh to breaking it out that way I guess yeah if uh I’ve always loved to shoot the puck I think my my two uh greatest skills that that I possess is probably my skating and my shot um so I’ve always uh wanted to to be an offensive type defenseman but the same time like the role I was put in in Detroit it was um a lot of the time when you’re playing against top guys you you got to focus on your your dzone a lot more because um they’re the best players in the world they’re going to have the puck in your Zone um most of the time so yeah just picking my spots on offense and um working a lot in the Summers on um bearing those chances and um that’s kind of the main thing that I work on in the summer um I find myself getting pretty good looks a lot of the time so just uh being able to relax and pick my spots did you enjoy uh you know obious Bob bner was the former coach here in San Jose did you enloy enjoy playing for for Bob and for you know it wasn’t a long time in Detroit but enjoy playing for him yeah I really did um he sent me a text too when uh when I when the trade went to a couple days later and um that was kind of one of the texts that I was honestly most excited about he um really helped me in a lot of different ways um I think he he thinks the game really well and um obviously gets really excited when when things are going well for his players and um there’s been over the years uh a lot of coaches that I’ve gone through but uh I would say Boogie was um definitely up there as one of my favorites so yeah if that says anything so I gotta ask here does the uh does the gritty make its way from Detroit to San Jose yeah I uh I told I told Macklin that was one of the things I said we gotta start growing this game so um it starts with you guys you gota got to live up to the hype and uh you’ll see me doing some celebrations too so um I have some stuff in store for sure does the does the the the origin of that sort of get uh lost a little bit I mean I know it’s basically it’s sort of you help raise money for charity a little bit with with that you know is that that kind of get lost in translations sometimes when people think you’re you’re showing them up but actually it’s just trying to maybe uh bring some some fun to the game I guess yeah I mean uh hockey and we had we had some really interesting meetings actually this weekend at the PA meetings but short story is hockey is is pretty old school and and thought about as an old school U mentality and um that’s just who I am you’ll see when I’m at the ring even off the ice I’m laughing enjoying it obviously being serious when it counts but um I think you kind of need that light personality and yeah it’s it’s uh like you said it’s not it’s not showboating um to me I just uh my favorite player growing up was Alex oetkin and I just saw his crazy sellies and how fired up he got when he scored and when stuff was going well for his team um that’s kind of why I first started celebrating but yeah we we turned it into a positive this year um when I was in Detroit I actually just uh finished coming from um dropping off a check we did the we did a charity uhh t-shirt drop for the boys and girls club there and um it did really well and um I know like you said I’d say about 90% of the messages are positive and and obviously 10% that I get are are people that are pissed off or the other team thinks it’s silly or fans from the other team but um in the end like you said the thing that I do it for is I get those 90% of messages from parents sending me videos of their kids doing it on the ice and other kids doing it people wearing 96 jerseys and their kids doing it after they score or wanting to play hockey and that’s that’s really what I do it just trying to grow the game because I remember when I was young I just I mean I love I love meeting an NHL player or going to watch a game in Toronto so that’s that’s really why I do it it’s it’s nothing more than that thank you Jake yeah have a couple more minutes with him here Max go ahead Jake I was gonna I was gonna ask you about the gritty but Curtis took it but I had some other things to ask you as well just for yourself you know in times you know last season the Sharks had a tough year and you know obviously there nobody projects them to have an amazing year how the celebrations how you kind of keep the room light and have fun obviously with such a young team that’s important for them to feel confidence is you feel like you’re somebody who kind of lead the way in that category to kind of keep people levelheaded and enjoying their time playing hockey in maybe some struggling times yeah exactly I think um I mean there’s always going to be an expectation doesn’t matter um where where you kind of see the the team at this point there’s always still an expectation and um like the teams that I’ve kind of been on it’s it’s been slowly slowly building it doesn’t happen in one year um you’re not going to see a total 180 um from the start to the end but if you can start kind of creating that standard um to to kind of be great and and know um kind of each year what you’re building on um eventually that’s going to turn into success and kind of just like building on those little things every single year eventually after two three years you’re going to kind of know what the standard is and and obviously like you said there’s there’s time for sure to keep it light and um that’s part of it especially when you get into those grindy parts of the Season late in the season when those meaningful games when you’re in those meaningful games um going into playoffs or something like that you got to kind of keep it light you got to keep keep it flowing because those are stressful times and um everybody wants to do well that’s the ultimate goal but um I think keeping it light especially with the with the young guys here I feel like like you said I can kind of relate to them I I still feel young I still feel like I’m 20 so um yeah I’m I’m excited I think uh I think i’ I’ll be great for those for those young guys too and then last one for me here the push for the playoffs you guys came so close do you feel like you could take what you learned and through the grind of just being so much like so close to the playoffs all season long and playing important games all season long do you feel like that was important for you and then you could bring what you learned from that to this sharks team which you know maybe in one or two years maybe in three is going to be in that similar spot yeah for sure and that’s what I I talk to the guys on the phone about um just kind of that’s the same thing I did I picked from these older guys like the David Pan um Ryan O’Reilly’s and um kind of learned a lot from them about that push and uh what it takes to be a true Pro um I think they they taught me a lot for sure and um yeah I definitely think that especially in the room in between periods um off the ice stuff uh just just kind of being a leader I feel like I’ve kind of gotten those qualities a little bit from from the guys that have been there before and I’ve learned from um I would say if there’s if there’s one person I learned from the most about um what it takes to kind of be a true team and and doing the right things and and kind of everybody pulling the same ship as David Pon um he’s uh became a really close friend of mine and obviously he’s out of Detroit now too but um he’s definitely taught me a lot and kind of he he likes to keep it light as well but at the same time he he knows what it takes to win so um like you said yeah for sure bringing that um pulling from different teams and kind of bringing that to the Sharks awesome thanks Jake looking forward to seeing you in San Jose yeah thank you

Jake Walman speaks with the media for the first time since being acquired from the Red Wings on June 25.