Edmonton Oilers injury issues continue, placing another player on IR

The Edmonton Oilers announced on Sunday that they had placed right-handed defenceman Alec Regula on the injured reserve list.

This comes after the 25 year old last played on October 11th against their Pacific Division rival, the Vancouver Canucks.

Regula joins a growing list of players to be placed on the IR as the injury bug bites again. The Oilers have been facing injuries since before the 2025-26 National Hockey League season even began.

Him officially going on the IR means that he will be unavailable to play for the Oilers for at least another seven days.

Key injuries hurting the Oilers early

Although some may not see Regula as a key fixture, his performance in the preseason lead many to feel he was deserving of a depth role with the club this season. His presence became more important as top-four defenceman Jake Walman was sidelined with an injury to start the year, after signing his seven-year extension with the Oilers.

Those two alone are bad enough to hit the depth on their backend, but the Oilers have a few injuries up front as well.

Forward Zach Hyman is not expected to join the club until next month after requiring surgery in the off-season. This came following a wrist injury he sustained in the 2025 Western Conference Finals against the Dallas Stars. He was placed on long-term injured reserve to start the season and the fans eagerly await his return.

Finally, there is Mattias Janmark who was put on IR to start the year and has been out since training camp with an undisclosed injury. He was originally expected to make a return this weekend but at this stage, it is unclear exactly when he is expected to return.

Looming roster conundrum

All of these injuries piling up and mixed with the newest addition of Jack Roslovic have made the next few weeks tricky for the Oilers. It is unclear when the team will start taking players off the regular IR and LTIR but when they do, the pied piper will need to be paid.

So far, the team has been able to keep a fully loaded 23-man roster outside of their players on the injured list. This has let management and the coaching staff take their time and not risk losing players to waivers but soon, that may be the case.

Looking ahead, the team has about $98.3 million currently on their roster and will need to work to get that below the $95.5 million upper limit (puckpedia.com). There are various combinations of players that will need to be sent down or passed through the waiver wire.

Especially as head coach Kris Knobluach scratches top rookie Ike Howard, it is clear that there will be tough decisions to make in the very near future.