{"id":471453,"date":"2025-07-18T12:50:25","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T16:50:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=471453"},"modified":"2025-07-18T12:50:57","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T16:50:57","slug":"anaheim-ducks-re-sign-rfa-defenceman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/07\/18\/anaheim-ducks-re-sign-rfa-defenceman\/","title":{"rendered":"Anaheim Ducks Re-Sign RFA Defenceman"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Welcome back to more NHL signing news here at <em>Last Word On Hockey<\/em>. Whenever a notable player puts pen to paper, we bring you the latest details and analysis. Today\u2019s focus is on the Anaheim Ducks re-signing defenceman <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/h\/helledr01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-06-29_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Drew Helleson<\/a>. Stay tuned as more signings unfold this offseason as we battle through the height of summer.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"und\" dir=\"ltr\">2 x $1.1M <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/a3jusGjhaa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/a3jusGjhaa<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FriedgeHNIC\/status\/1946243235212398901?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 18, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Anaheim Ducks Re-Sign Defenceman Drew Helleson to Bolster Blueline Depth<\/h2>\n<p data-start=\"679\" data-end=\"805\">The contract is a two-year deal, worth an average annual value of $1.1 million. The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/06\/12\/analyzing-veteran-wingers-impact-on-the-anaheim-ducks\/\" target=\"_self\">Anaheim Ducks<\/a> are bringing back right-shot defenceman Drew Helleson for the 2025\u201326 season.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1147\" data-end=\"1479\">Helleson is coming off his strongest professional campaign to date. He suited up for 56 games with Anaheim during the 2024\u201325 season, recording four goals and nine assists while averaging over 17 minutes per night. He played well defensively and saw time on the penalty kill, carving out a reliable role in the Ducks\u2019 third pairing.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1481\" data-end=\"1829\">The 23-year-old was originally drafted 47th overall by the Colorado Avalanche in 2019 and joined the Ducks as part of the trade that sent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/m\/mansojo01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-06-29_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Josh Manson<\/a> to Colorado in 2022. After signing his entry-level deal later that spring, Helleson spent most of two seasons with the AHL\u2019s San Diego Gulls before breaking through to the NHL roster this past year.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1831\" data-end=\"2045\">While he did see 12 AHL games in 2024\u201325, the bulk of his contributions came at the NHL level. Helleson brings calm puck movement, defensive zone reads, and a much-needed right-handed shot to a young Anaheim blueline.<\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"2052\" data-end=\"2083\">What This Means for the Anaheim Duckz<\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"2085\" data-end=\"2485\">Helleson\u2019s return gives the Ducks much-needed depth on the right side of their defence. With several<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/06\/26\/report-anaheim-ducks-hiring-former-head-coach-as-assistant\/\" target=\"_self\"> prospects still developing<\/a>, Helleson could again factor into the opening night lineup. He\u2019ll be in the mix for a regular third-pairing role, unless Anaheim opts to promote younger names like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/l\/luneatr01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-06-29_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tristan Luneau<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/z\/zellwol01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-06-29_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Olen Zellweger<\/a> into full-time NHLers.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2085\" data-end=\"2485\">Main Photo: Anne-Marie Sorvin-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome back to more NHL signing news here at Last Word On Hockey. Whenever a notable player puts pen to paper, we bring you the latest details and analysis. Today\u2019s focus is on the Anaheim Ducks re-signing defenceman Drew Helleson. Stay tuned as more signings unfold this offseason as we battle through the height of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5399,"featured_media":472618,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20,4547,34,4548],"tags":[5910,4112,662],"class_list":["post-471453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ducks","category-hockey","category-news","category-nhl","tag-anaheim-ducks-news","tag-drew-helleson","tag-nhl-free-agency"],"modified_by":"Levi Pike, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5399"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471453"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":472620,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471453\/revisions\/472620"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}