The Latvian Locomotive will be heading out east, but it won’t be with the Canucks. Ronalds Kenins has been reassigned to the Utica Comets, according to a release by the Vancouver Canucks.

Kenins was recalled last week, and played in two games with Vancouver, averaging 11:23 of ice time and taking two shots on net, but earning no points. He heads back to the AHL where he has one assist in seven games in a season that has mostly been limited by injury.

I found the Kenins call up to be a little odd in the first place. Through most of Benning’s time with the team, the Canucks have been calling up players who were hot in Utica. This was discernibly not the case with Kenins. A lower body injury had forced him to miss 12 consecutive games, limiting him to just seven on the season, and he had but a single assist to show for it.

My best guess at the time (along with many others) was that he was brought in with the intention of sparking Bo Horvat. Unfortunately that did not happen and Horvat remains ice cold, pointless in his last eight games and goalless in his last 18. It’s hard to blame the Canucks for trying: Horvat is slumping something fierce. Even in his slow start to his rookie season, he never went more than 14 games without a goal.

Kenins did manage to rack up nine hits in his two games with the Canucks, but it wasn’t enough to keep him in the lineup. He was a healthy scratch for the last couple of games as Sven Baertschi stole his spot back.

The Canucks will have to try something different, and my guess is that they will. No announcement as of yet, but with no forward nearing a return from injury in the near future, I have to think that another winger will be on the way from Utica shortly. If it isn’t immediate, it won’t be far off, although there isn’t a huge rush. The Canucks have an off day today and don’t play again until Sunday in Chicago.

The Comets have one game before then, a home date against the Marlies on Friday. With the big club headed east, it’s certainly possible that they wait until after Utica’s Friday game to call up a replacement forward.

Jake Virtanen was recently sent down on a conditioning stint, and the plan is for him to play two games before his return. The second game would be Sunday, the same day the Canucks play in Chicago, making it seem unlikely that Virtanen will be the forward replacing Kenins. Hunter Shinkaruk, the Comets hottest forward, is currently day-to-day with an undisclosed injury and isn’t likely to be playing with the Comets this weekend, let alone the Canucks.

Alex Grenier has to be high on the list and (dare I say it) Nick Jensen has been heating up lately, but my guess in Brendan Gaunce. The 2012 first round pick just returned from an injury and posted two assists in his first game back. He’s a left shot, which means that he could do exactly what Kenins was doing and rotate in for Sven Baertschi if the coach feels that Sven needs to be dealt with more patience, or whatever. Gaunce scored his first NHL goal in his second game on a call up earlier in the season.

For now we wait. Also of note is the injury to Dan Hamhuis, on which we are still awaiting further details. In any case, it’s likely that we see both a forward and defenceman get promotions in the coming days.