Bruins lose defenseman to waiver wire
In a bit of a surprising twist, the Bruins were not able to sneak defenseman Alec Regula down to the minors via the waiver wire, with Regula claimed by the Oilers on Wednesday.
Edmonton’s claim on Regula comes after the Bruins attempted to send Regula down to Providence after he missed the first two months of the season as he recovered from offseason knee surgery. In essence, with Regula ready to start practicing again, the Bruins had to place him on waivers to assign him back down to Providence, where he spent the entirety of the 2023-24 season in the B’s organization.
A 6-foot-4 defender, Regula was originally acquired by the Bruins in the 2023 trade that dumped Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno on the Blackhawks in the name of cap space for the up-against-it Bruins. The right-shooting Regula put up four goals and 26 points, along with a plus-36 rating, in 55 games for the P-Bruins a year ago, and that plus-36 was the best in the entire AHL last season.
If Regula does not fit with the Oilers for whatever reason, he will have to hit the waiver wire again, where Don Sweeney and the Bruins would have the opportunity to reclaim him and assign him to AHL Providence so long as no other team put a claim in on him.
But with Regula out of the Bruins’ plans for the time being, Boston’s right-side defensive depth below the NHL level features Ian Mitchell, Billy Sweezey, Ryan Mast, and Drew Bavaro.
