ANAHEIM, Calif. – There have been plenty of highs in the Anaheim Ducks’ first 4-1-0 start since 2019, but aside from the five-goal second period in the lone loss to Edmonton last Wednesday, the extent of the recent lows of this start will be detailed in the next few hours.

The Ducks lost last season’s leading goal scorer Cutter Gauthier (upper-body injury) after five shifts on Saturday in Calgary and third-line center Ryan Poehling (lower-body injury) on the go-ahead goal in that same 4-2 win over the Flames.

With Anaheim having a day off on Sunday, the timeline on the injuries to both players, as well as who will replace them, won’t be fully known until the Ducks return to practice at Great Park Ice at 10:30 a.m. on Monday.

“Both guys we lost tonight, we’ll get back (to Anaheim) tomorrow, we’ll get evaluated,” Joel Quenneville told local media in Calgary. “We’ll see how they present on Monday. We’ve got our fingers crossed, but I’m not sure right now.”

Gauthier’s injury is concerning only because there was no evident incident on his five shifts that led to him leaving the game. Late last season, Gauthier suffered a fractured vertebrae that had a similarly subdued on-ice reaction, but again, no inkling what this current injury could be.

Poehling’s injury was much more evident, as he immediately grabbed his knee after being taken out and driving into the goal post. There’s plenty of moving parts in the knee, so also not worth speculating until more is confirmed.

Anaheim is also waiting on the return of Drew Helleson and Ian Moore from injured reserve (lower-body injuries).

Helleson has been skating with the team and was targeted for a return on the road trip, per Quenneville. Again, practice on Monday will determine where he is in the line-up.

Moore suffered a lower-body injury in the very first drill of training camp and was given a 2-4 week timeline. This is his fourth week of recovery. He has not skated with the team yet.

While waiting for those diagnoses today, let’s empty the notebook on some positive angles from the first full week of Ducks hockey:

Nikita Klepov Makes Humble Debut

Anaheim’s No. 15 overall pick in this summer’s draft made his NHL debut on Wednesday, and while Florida-born Russian winger Nikita Klepov didn’t hit the scoresheet in the ways you’d expect–zero shots in 10:03 of ice time, but five hits–he took his first game in stride.

“It’s just the start of my career,” Klepov said. “Hopefully it’s going to be long. I didn’t do anything yet. Just getting started, I think.”

Analytically, not a half bad start for the youngest Ducks player in team history (18 years, 102 days old). With Klepov on the ice, the Ducks earned 84.71% of expected goals and 66.67% of the shot attempts.

Klepov did not draw in on the road over the weekend, as Anaheim balances the early workload on the kid, but he’s taking the right attitude into these early trials.

“Just get my reps in, get used to the speed and pace,” Klepov said. “Everything’s a little bit quicker here. If I continue to play and get the reps, I’ll be fine.”

Noah Warren Shines in Top Opportunity

The biggest concern entering the season for Anaheim was the state of its blue line. What would the back end look like with so much turnover from veterans to rookies?

So far, it’s looked fairly decent, even as the Ducks leaned so heavily on Jackson LaCombe and Tristan Luneau in the first few games.

However, even as Luneau is as much of a rookie as some of the rest, he was expected to fill a big role. Just look at that six-year, $7.2 million-per-year extension Anaheim locked him into.

The biggest surprise on this Ducks defense–aside from veteran free agent Nick Jensen not getting into the line-up, even with the injuries to Moore and Helleson–is Noah Warren.

Not only did Warren make his NHL debut ahead of schedule and ahead of Jensen, he’s passed his early tests with flying colors. So much so, the 22-year-old was shifted to the top pair with LaCombe for the weekend back-to-back.

In Winnipeg, Warren logged over 24 minutes of ice time, and with Warren on the ice at five-on-five, the Ducks earned over 58% of the shot attempts and expected goals. In Calgary–as LaCombe rode the bench for a 10-minute stretch–Warren’s analytics dipped slightly in over 21 minutes of ice time, but the Ducks still earned over 58% of shot attempts with 45.5% of expected goals.

Warren did log assists in each of the back-to-back games for three assists in five games this season

Most NHL teams find some totem to give to their player of the game in the locker room after victories, and after retiring the Mighty Ducks movie Coach Bombay Jacket from last season, new captain Mikael Granlund still wanted to keep it vintage with whatever this year’s item would become.

Luckily, Granlund knows a Finnish legend in Orange County, and Teemu Selanne was more than willing to open up his old Ducks gear for this year’s flock.

“We wanted to do some old Mighty Ducks team helmet,” Granlund said told The Sporting Tribune. “Teemu found a helmet from his storage. We thought it’s sick and put that old bubble out there. Turned out pretty good to me.”

Selanne handed over a classic purple–I always called it “eggplant,” but the team officially went with “plum” during the 30th anniversary season–Jofa helmet from his second stint with the Mighty Ducks in 2005-06, his limited run as No. 13 in an Anaheim sweater.

But, as Granlund noted, they wanted to take it a step further and, as they did with the Bombay jacket, lean into the Mighty Ducks movie vibes and attached a bubble shield to mimic the youth hockey look from those 1992 District 5 Ducks.

Leo Carlsson, 21st Duck Joshua Conger, Judd Caulfield and Ville Husso have been the recipients so far this season.

Some extra background on the Teemu bucket from Mikael Granlund:

Bucket is game-worn. The bubble shield is not. Granlund said team was looking to get Mighty Ducks movie vibes from the whatever the victory item was like the Coach Bombay jacket, and so got Teemu’s Mighty Jofa… https://t.co/qhpX2q69xb pic.twitter.com/JYzMD67Dyc

— Zach Cavanagh (@ZachCav) October 6, 2026

Aside from the five-goal second-period blitz against Edmonton, Lukas Dostal has posted save percentages of .941, .935, .900 and a combined goals saved above expected of 3.28 three of his four starts this season. Of course, that period against the Oilers still counts, but it’s mostly been a strong start for the Czech netminder. Monday still marks two calendar years since his and Anaheim’s last shutout, though.

Special teams has been at the forefront for Anaheim to open the season, and in a great way for once. Through five games, the Ducks have the league’s second-best power play with a 37.5% conversion rate and eighth-best penalty kill with a 88.9% kill rate. Last season, Anaheim’s power play was 23rd at 18.6% and its penalty kill was 27th at 76.4%. Early doors still, but a nice start nonetheless.

Mikael Granlund and Jackson LaCombe each have opened the season with five-game point streaks to tie the Ducks record to open the season, matching the mark set by Corey Perry (2014-15) and Kevin Shattenkirk (2021-22).