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Edmonton Oilers coach lays out reason for new-look defensive pairs

Preston Hodgkinson
Preston Hodgkinson
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Oct 28 2025, 6:46 pm
Edmonton Oilers coach lays out reason for new-look defensive pairs
Stephen Brashear/Imagn Images

The Edmonton Oilers are trying everything to break out of their early-season funk.

Two straight losses to the Seattle Kraken and Vancouver Canucks have put the Oilers at 4-4-2 on the season, which is a disappointing start for a Stanley Cup-contending team. It’s yet another poor way to begin the new season, but it’s also shockingly the best start they’ve had over the past three years.

That fact won’t keep them content, as head coach Kris Knoblauch has continued to tweak the lineup. Tuesday night’s matchup against a red-hot Utah Mammoth squad won’t be an easy one, and Knoblauch is continuing to run with his new-look defensive pairs.

Specifically, he wants to see more of the Darnell Nurse-Evan Bouchard top pair.

“I think it’s important that we’ve switched up our d-pairs and have guys playing with different partners,” Knoblauch said on Tuesday morning. “With the way everyone’s game is at right now, we felt that some kind of switch had to be made.

“Whether this is a long-term or short-term thing, we’ll find out. That was a good step with that top pair the other night with Darnell and Bouch. If they can continue to play like that and get better and become a dominant pair, maybe we keep them together.”

Bouchard has almost exclusively been used next to Mattias Ekholm over the past few seasons, but they have gotten off to a slow start this year. That is not typical for this pair, which is usually rock-solid together, but they struggled mightily against a speedy Seattle Kraken team over the weekend.

That prompted the change to the defensive pairs on Sunday night against the Canucks. Nurse was elevated to play with Bouchard while Ekholm dropped down to the second pair with Jake Walman. That top-four group will remain together against the Mammoth after posting decent results in Vancouver despite the loss.

Brett Kulak and Ty Emberson will round out the group on the third pairing. There were some hints that the team would go with 11 forwards and seven defencemen, but Knoblauch did not confirm that. If they did, it’s likely Troy Stecher would draw in.

Regula was skating with the team this morning, prompting some belief that he could return to action against the Mammoth. When asked about his availability, Knoblauch shut it down.

“No, he’s not gonna play tonight,” Knoblauch said.

For the forward lines, Matt Savoie will move up to the third line with Adam Henrique and Trent Frederic. Noah Philp was also skating on the fourth line alongside David Tomasek and Isaac Howard, though if they go with the 11-7 formation, he could find himself back in the press box.

OilersTV’s Tony Brar had the full lineup at morning skate.

Gametime is set for 7:30 p.m. MDT.

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