"Just in the nick of time, Sami Salo will likely lace up on Saturday night for the Canucks.

After three games of conditioning with the Manitoba Moose, Salo returned to Vancouver on Wednesday, will practise today and then decide if he's NHL game-ready.

Salo will become the 10 th defenceman to suit up for the Canucks this season.

"The timing is No. 1," said Kevin Bieksa, who has come back from two long injury-related layoffs the past three seasons. "You can work out and you can get your body physically ready, but it's the mental thing – thinking the game, making those split-second decisions.

"He's only played three games, that's not even a training camp."

Canucks assistant GM Lorne Henning watched Salo during his Moose stint and reports the 36-year-old felt no pain in the Achilles tendon he tore in the summer."