Oilers defenceman looks to be on the way out after harsh benching vs. Devils

The Oilers are running with a depleted roster and are unable to make any roster moves after Kasperi Kapanen went down with injury. Given Knoblauch's ice times last night, they essentially forfeited a player.

Not only that, the Oilers actually played down 2 players when Vasily Podkolzin missed 17 minutes after his fight. In that situation with only 10 forwards, Knoblauch kept his extra player entirely on the bench.

Regula only played 2:35 of ice time, which is so little that he may as well not have even played.

This puts added stress on every other player who's asked to play more ice time. Bouchard played over 26 minutes and Ekholm was just behind him. Both McDavid and Nuge played well over 23 minutes too. If Knoblauch is going to overuse every other player, then the 11/7 formation isn't sustainable.

Beyond that, it looks like Regula's entirely lost the trust and confidence of the coaching staff. He started off strong with the Oilers this season, but repeated mistakes and turnovers have forced him out of the lineup now.

The Oilers claimed Regula on waivers from the Bruins last season, and signed the 25 year old defenceman to a 2-year contract extension. Though it did look like a good find for free, Regula could placed on waivers again in the near future.

Either way, GM Stan Bowman has some work to do to reshape this roster, and potentially find a new home for Regula.

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