BLOG: Regula Making Jump from Juniors to NHL Playoffs | #FifthThirdBetter

It can be daunting entering your first NHL training camp as a rookie in the Fall. Sure, in most cases you've had either a prospect camp or two to get your feet wet, perhaps a trip to Traverse City and the annual rookie tournament to jumpstart your game before the veterans come in, but nothing can get you ready for the real thing.

Alec Regula, though, had none of that experience to fall back on the past few weeks.

The young defenseman was acquired in an early-season trade with the Detroit Red Wings and signed his first entry-level deal two weeks later while playing out the rest of the season in juniors with the London Knights. He stepped right into his first NHL training camp with a new organization -- one uniquely in preparation for the playoffs, not the regular season -- and is now in Edmonton as part of the 31-man roster set to compete for a Stanley Cup beginning on Saturday.

"It's very unusual," Senior Vice President/General Manager Stan Bowman said. "Probably never happened like that before.

"He was that somebody we were hoping would get some action in Rockford if they were going to make the playoffs," Bowman continued. "His team in London was very good, so it was unlikely that he was going to be done in time to join Rockford, but that was the goal to try and get him there. Now here we are with the way the pandemic played out, he's not only a candidate (for the Blackhawks), but he's a candidate to play playoff games."

Regula, a third-round selection of the Red Wings in 2018, was a point-per-game player in London this year, putting up 60 (27G, 33A) in 56 games before the season was cut short with the playoff-bound Knights atop the Western Conference standings. It's the second straight season the OHL team had a defenseman reach 20 goals -- one Adam Boqvist did so the year prior.

There's thought within the organization that Regula can follow in the footsteps of his former London teammate and make an NHL impact sooner rather than later.

"He was a point producer in juniors, but the elements of his game that allow him to put points up in juniors are going to help him be a good, steady, all-around defenseman in the NHL," said Blackhawks Assistant General Manager/Player Development Mark Eaton. "He has really good hands, good vision, good passing ability that at the NHL level will allow him to read forechecks and make a good first pass.

"Ultimately, with his size, his skating ability, his reach, going forward in the NHL I can see him being a guy that plays against other teams' top lines every night and becomes a hard guy to play against from the defensive aspect of the game."

It's not just the physical tools that make Regula a blue-chip NHL prospect either.

"I remember one of the first meetings I had with him," Eaton said. "(I) showed him some video on Blackhawks defenseman and how we like to defend the neutral zone and gap up and angle in. He sat there, asked some questions, but then when I saw him play in a game the next night, he immediately was able to incorporate it into his game. Just to show that level of coachability and implementation is extremely impressive."

Whether it's in the coming weeks, months or years, he's got all the makings of a future impact defenseman.

"He's been training hard and he's got all the skills that you'd be looking for in a player and now it's just continuing to get better," Bowman said. "It's a big jump from junior to pro hockey, but he's ready to make that jump."