Dermott’s days with Edmonton Oilers could be numbered

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The Edmonton Oilers announced this afternoon that they have placed defenceman Travis Dermott on waivers.

The 27-year-old has played in 10 games this season, recording two penalty minutes and a plus/minus of -3 while averaging just over 13 minutes in ice time.

This move comes just one day after the Oilers claimed 6-foot-4 defenceman Alec Regula off waivers from the Boston Bruins. The 24-year-old has yet to play this season due to a knee injury but has recovered and could be making his Oilers debut in the near future.

Dermott was invited to training camp on a professional tryout offer (PTO) and impressed the Oilers coaching staff enough to earn himself a one-year, $775,000 deal. He’s struggled to get into game action this season, however, sitting out the last eight games as a healthy scratch in favour of Troy Stecher.

Teams will now have 24 hours to put a claim in on Dermott, who has logged 339 NHL games split between the Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks, Arizona Coyotes, and of course, the Oilers.

For the time being, the Oilers’ seven defencemen will consist of Evan Bouchard, Mattias Ekholm, Darnell Nurse, Brett Kulak, Ty Emberson, Stecher, and Regula. They are also expected to add another defenceman to their roster via trade between now and the March 7 deadline.

Despite having an underwhelming blue line in the eyes of many, it hasn’t affected the Oilers all too much this season. After a bit of a slow start, they’ve been rolling as of late with a 10-3-1 record over their last 14 games. A big part of that has been the brilliance of Connor McDavid, who has an astounding 28 points over that stretch.

The Oilers are back in action tonight to take on the Minnesota Wild, who currently sit first in the NHL standings. Regula won’t be in the lineup but may get an opportunity on Saturday afternoon in an outing versus the Vegas Golden Knights.

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