Anaheim Ducks defenseman Drew Helleson missed the start of the regular season with a lower-body injury, but head coach Joel Quenneville told the media today (including Derek Lee of The Hockey News) that Helleson will travel with the team on its weekend road trip with the hope that he will be able to draw into the Ducks’ lineup on Saturday against the Calgary Flames.

Helleson, 25, is entering what will be his third season as a full-time member of the Ducks’ NHL roster. It’s an important campaign for Helleson, who is set to become an RFA next summer and then a UFA the year after that. Helleson has become a third-pairing defensive stopper at the NHL level, and will likely see 2026-27 as an important year to help establish his value at the game’s highest level. Last season, Helleson scored 15 points in 60 games while averaging 16:57 time on ice per game including 1:29 on the penalty kill.

Other notes from the Western Conference:

• While Helleson is nearing a return from his own injury, Quenneville said another Ducks defenseman isn’t quite as close. The Ducks head coach said injured blueliner Ian Moore is still “a little bit away” from being healthy enough to be activated off of IR. The Ducks announced that Moore suffered a lower-body injury on Sept. 18 and issued him a two-to-four-week recovery timeline.
• Dallas Stars forward Joel Kiviranta will not travel with the team on its upcoming road trip after suffering an injury while blocking a shot, per Sam Nestler of DLLS Sports. Head coach Glen Gulutzan told the media today that the hope is that Kiviranta will only have to miss about a week. If the timeline is a week or more, an IR placement is a possibility to open up a roster spot. The 30-year-old veteran rejoined the Stars this past summer on a one-year, $1MM deal after spending the previous three years with the Colorado Avalanche. Kiviranta played for Dallas from 2019 to 2023 and famously scored a Game 7 hat trick during Dallas’ run to the 2020 Stanley Cup Final.