The Edmonton Oilers raised some eyebrows on Wednesday, by claiming 24-year-old Alec Regula from the Boston Bruins.
Originally a third-round pick of the Detroit Red Wings, Regula hasn’t quite made his mark on the NHL. He’s played a grand total of 22 NHL contests, most recently with the Chicago Blackhawks during the 2022-23 season.
The #Oilers have claimed defenceman Alec Regula off waivers from Boston. The right-shot blueliner, selected 67th overall by Detroit in 2018, has appeared in 22 career @NHL games with one goal. pic.twitter.com/zX9uaDcIci
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) December 11, 2024
But don’t let that fool you. An in-depth piece in The Athletic explored Regular’s connections to the Edmonton Oilers. In particular, Regula has a connection to current Oilers’ GM Stan Bowman from Bowman’s days in Chicago.
Moreover, Regula played with Oilers’ top D-man Evan Bouchard on the London Knights during 2018-19. That familiarity provides the Oilers with an interesting piece to plug into the lineup.
But there’s a catch. Regular is coming off a knee injury and won’t likely play anytime soon. He’ll still need time to recover and get back into game shape. Nevertheless, the Oilers see a low-risk, high-reward situation.
Regula is big at 6’4” and is known to move the puck well. It’s somewhat surprising he hasn’t found a solid opportunity to earn a roster spot. Perhaps now he’ll get one in Edmonton.
Given the Oilers' depth on the blue line, there’s no faulting Bowman for picking up Regula. He costs the team nothing and could potentially deliver solid play on the bottom pairing. It’s also worth pointing out that Regula could basically replace Noel Hoefenmayer on the Oilers’ depth chart.
Hoefenmayer was dealt to the Montreal Canadiens for Jacob Perreault. The deal has minor implications for both squads. But if there’s one thing you can never have too much of, is depth.
Edmonton Oilers healthy blueline adds more depth
As it stands, the Edmonton Oilers are healthy on the blue line. Regula’s addition to the roster gives the Oilers eight healthy defencemen. That situation bodes well considering that injuries don’t call in advance. As such, having extra bodies helps the Oilers manage whatever situations may come their way.
The Oilers’ current defence pairings look to be working just fine at the moment. Mattias Ekholm and Bouchard are locked at the hip. Meanwhile, Darnell Nurse and Troy Stetcher have played reasonably well. Lastly, Brett Kulak and Ty Emberson have also provided solid minutes on the third pairing.
That leaves Travis Dermott as the seventh defenceman with Regula now slated as the eighth D-man. As noted earlier, Regula won’t be pressed into game action right away. However, it will be interesting to see if Regula can push Dermott down the depth chart.
Please bear in mind the Edmonton Oilers need flexibility if they want to swing for the fences and land a big fish on the blue line.