The Ottawa Senators will start their longest road trip of the season without veteran centre Lars Eller.
The Senators will open their seven-game road trip against the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday night at the Honda Center, and Eller wasn’t on the ice with the rest of his teammates Wednesday.
Coach Travis Green told reporters after the club’s skate in Ottawa on Monday that Eller and winger Ridly Greig, who also missed the twirl, were being given maintenance days and they would make the trip to California.
Greig was back in his regular spot beside Dylan Cozens and Fabian Zetterlund on the second line during the skate in Anaheim, but there was no sign of Eller to anchor the fourth unit, and he won’t face the Ducks.
“Eller most likely won’t play tomorrow,” Green said after the club’s skate.
Eller has an undisclosed injury. He joins a list that includes captain Brady Tkachuk, alternate captain Thomas Chabot and winger Olle Lycksell, who didn’t make the trip.
Instead, 23-year-old centre Stephen Halliday, who was called up from the club’s American Hockey League affiliate in Belleville on Tuesday along with blueliner Lassi Thomson, skated with Nick Cousins and Hayden Hodgson.
Belleville Senators centre Stephen Halliday, seen in a January 2025 file photo, says he has been working on being more physical this season.
That means Halliday, who was selected No. 104 overall in the 2022 draft, could make his National Hockey League debut against the Ducks. He has posted one goal and 11 points in 15 games with Belleville this season, but pushed for a spot in camp.
He put himself in a position to be brought up with his strong play.
“I’m just trying to experience it day-by-day, soak it all up and just trying to show what I’ve been trying to work on down there in Belleville,” Halliday said.
Green said he’s spoken with Belleville coach David Bell a lot about Halliday over the course of the first six weeks of the season.
“He’s gone down and he’s worked on his pace,” Green said. “Also, that two-way part of his game and that harder part. There is a good chance we will see him, and it’s always exciting when a guy plays his first NHL game.”
Halliday said being more physical has been a focus. He spent time working on that part of his game with development coach Sam Gagner in Muskoka in the summer.
“I’ve tried to get a little bit stronger and use my body a little bit more,” Halliday said. “I’ve focused a little bit more on the details that will help me get here.
“Bell has been great. I talk to him a lot about things that I can work on: Faceoffs, defensive zone coverage, and we’ve watched a lot of video as a team. I definitely think I wouldn’t be here without Bell.”
This visit by the Senators will be the second of back-to-back home games for the Ducks in what will be Ottawa’s 20th game of the season. Anaheim hosted the Boston Bruins at home on Wednesday night.
Chabot, who has missed two games with an upper-body muscle injury he suffered Nov. 11 against the Dallas Stars, made the trip and is inching closer to a return.
Chabot was on the ice after the rest of the group skated and was doing individual drills. The club recalled Thomson to make sure it had another defenceman available if anybody else gets injured.
The timeline for Chabot after he suffered the ailment was at least two weeks, but Steve Staios, the club’s general manager and president of hockey operations, stated that whatever the timeline was, he expects Chabot to recover quickly.
“Chabby looks like he’s getting a lot closer as well,” said Green.
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