Right-shot defenceman Alec Regula was claimed off waivers six weeks ago from the Boston Bruins, who were trying to send him to their AHL farm team in Providence to continue his rehab from off-season knee surgery, but he’s yet to play a single minute for the Edmonton Oilers.
He’s closer to starting in Bakersfield than here, but anywhere is a step forward.
“He either has to clear waivers (to go the AHL) or accept a conditioning stint for 10 days or five games. We’re not approaching that timeline yet, ” said Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch, who watched Regula at the morning skate before Monday’s Seattle Kraken game, one of six defencemen on the ice with Darnell Nurse (sick but likely to play) and John Klingberg (immigration paperwork) not there.
“I just want to play hockey,” said Regula, who was actually drafted by Chicago when current Oilers GM Stan Bowman was in charge there. “First time skating with the team in eight or nine months. Yeah, it’s been a long time.”
If Regula agrees to a minor-league stint, it could come during the NHL break for the 4 Nations Face-Off and he seems amenable to it. The AHL Condors play five games between Feb. 11 and 21. Then he would have to be recalled and put on the Oilers roster. To go back to Bakersfield, he would have to clear waivers after that and likely the Bruins would reclaim the 24-year-old because they were likely surprised that anybody took him in mid-December.
Whether there’s any room for Regula here is debatable. The defenceman, who went to the Bruins with Calahoo’s Ian Mitchel when Chicago traded for Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno in June 2023, is big and clearly has NHL tools. But the Oilers signed Klingberg, another right-shot defenceman after the waiver claim, and another righty Troy Stecher, who is No. 6 on the blueline depth chart, is on a two-year contract. They’ve also got farmhand Josh Brown — yes, another right-shooter — with a three-year contract.
The knee repair for Regula was necessary to fix some structural damage.
“I had a nagging injury I’d dealt with for a couple of seasons,” said Regula. “It’s been kind of a bumpy road coming back.”
Regula has skated by himself but also got a chance to join Connor McDavid when he was suspended last week. “That was awesome. It’s hard to put into words how good he is. It was an honour to be out there with him,” he said.
Knoblauch won’t say when Klingberg, who has had three strong practices, will get his first Oilers game after being out 14 months (double hip surgery), but Thursday at home against Todd McLellan’s Detroit Red Wings seems a good possibility. “We’ve got two more practices before then. Rough estimate is sometime this week. If we have to push it back, we go on the road next week and have a back-to-back (St. Louis and Chicago). He could go then,” said Knoblauch.
Bylsma has seen this picture show before
Seattle coach Dan Bylsma has a unique take on the whole McDavid-Leon Draisaitl dynamic as a 1-2 centre tag team because he had the same situation when he was with Pittsburgh for five-plus seasons as head man, including a Stanley Cup ring. He could trot out Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Double the trouble, double the fun.
Any similiarities?
“Yeah, there’s a lot of them. Two great players in Pittsburgh and two great ones here. And when one is out (injured or otherwise), it seems like the other one has the capability to take over the game. I saw Leon do that with Connor out of the Oiler lineup (11 points six games with McDavid hurt or suspended this season). Crosby and Malkin together and Connor and Leon, they’re just great one-two punches,” said Bylsma, who had Sid and Malkin on the same line situationally just as Knoblauch does and Jay Woodcroft before him with Knoblauch using 97 and 29 together after an Oilers penalty kill.
“When the opportunity came up (Pittsburgh), icings, before TV timeouts, it was a chance to load up. It’s extremely daunting to put two of the best players in the world on the ice together,” said Bylsma.
On the mend
Former Oilers winger Jordan Eberle, who needed pelvic surgery on Nov. 22 after he was in a collision with Hawks’ Connor Murphy on Nov. 14 and tumbled hard into the boards, back first, was skating lightly here Monday with the Kraken.
The injury/surgery happened at the worst possible time for Eberle with his wife Lauren giving birth to the couple’s third child, a girl named Landyn, shortly after he was operated on.
The Seattle captain, who had six goals and nine points in his first 10 games this season, may return after the NHL break.
This ‘n’ that
With McDavid returning Monday to give the Oilers 13 forwards, Jeff Skinner was a healthy scratch once again, the sixth time that’s happened. He was in the starting lineup against his old Buffalo team Saturday and scored a goal against James Reimer, but Knoblauch likes his fourth line with Kasperi Kapanen and Corey Perry on the wings more than Skinner, with farm call-up Noah Philp in the middle…
Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner missed the morning game-day skate because his wife Chloe is giving birth to their second child. Her due date was Feb. 1…
Derek Ryan, who went unclaimed when put on waivers, has arrived in Bakersfield after not being in the minors for nine years when he was in the Carolina organization. Bakersfield’s next game is Wednesday at home against Raphael Lavoie and Henderson Silver Knights, and Ryan might play then…
Bylsma, who coached Seattle’s AHL team in Coachella Valley for two years, got a kick out of ex-Oilers goalie Grant Fuhr in his time there. Fuhr does commentary on their AHL broadcasts. “It was awesome for me having Grant around, just for his championship experience. He’s not always eager to share it, but he has that presence all the time. That rubs off in the environment. Great to have him in CV,” said Bylsma…
While Vegas defenceman Alex Pietrangelo has pulled out of Canada’s roster for the 4 Nations Face-Off, that leaves Edmonton’s Evan Bouchard, Seattle’s Brandon Montour, Calgary’s MacKenzie Weegar, Jersey’s Dougie Hamilton, and L.A.’s Drew Doughty, returning soon after breaking his ankle in camp, in the mix to replace him. If Doughty can get four or five games in before the tournament and looks OK, he might be the management’s No. 1 choice…
The Kraken have their mums on this trip, which brought a big smile to Byslma’s face. His mum is part of the travelling cavalcade. “I come from a family of five children, and I’m the fourth boy along with a sister. It’s a pleasure to have the mums around so they can see what their sons do, so thank you, mum,” said Bylsma. “To a man, we all know how important the mums are. My mum texts me before every game.” He’s had four dad’s trips and two for the mums…
The Kraken, still out of the playoff picture, have two UFA forwards very much in the trade mix for the March 7 deadline — centre Yanni Gourde, who’s been out for three-and-a-half weeks with a lower-body issue and winger Brandon Tanev, who would be a feisty, fourth-line, hard-skating, PK addition for any contender…
The Oilers farm team is still hurting up front. Matvei Petrov has a concussion, Lane Pederson has a bum shoulder, and winger Roby Jarventie has played just two games all season. The Finnish forward, who came to the Oilers over the summer in an Ottawa trade for Xavier Bourgault, had knee surgery while with the Senators organization and missed all of Oilers training camp because the other knee was bothering him. He may need another surgery.
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