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The Ronalds Kenins Call Up Breaks the Streak of Merit-based Promotions
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Jeremy Davis
Dec 3, 2015, 20:49 ESTUpdated:
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Before Wednesday, every player called up to the Canucks this season has received the call as a reward for strong play and production, through both the preseason and the beginning of the season.
Brendan Gaunce, Hunter Shinkaruk, Alex Grenier and Andrey Pedan made their NHL debuts following hot starts to the year and appearances at the top of the Comets points leaderboard. AHL vets Alex Biega and Taylor Fedun (who never got into a game) earned call-ups by being essential pieces on Utica’s backend.
The Ronalds Kenins call up breaks this trend. While the majority of Canuck Nation was enthralled to see the return of the Latvian Locomotive, it left me a little perplexed just by the fact that Kenins hasn’t been so hot in Utica so far.
So why was he chosen?
Many of the long-time hardcore fans may be surprised at the idea that Vancouver’s call-ups have been based on merit, but it’s certainly been true since Benning’s arrival.
During the slew of NHL debuts being made by highly touted prospects, some may have been suspicious of the intentions of Canucks management. Why did we see all of these prospects this year, as opposed to being treated to the Brandon DeFazios and Pascal Pelletier’s of the world? Why couldn’t we have Shinkaruk last year?
The simple answer is, the Canucks had been giving the call to the prospects who were playing well. For the majority of last season, that did not mean Hunter Shinkaruk or Brendan Gaunce, who (very reasonably) had slow starts to their professional careers.
That meant Brandon DeFazio, who was tied for the team lead in goals when he was called up on November 9th, and finished the season with 21, the most of any Comet. That meant Alex Biega, who earned the respect of teammates and coaches with his relentless attitude combined with an ability to score. It also meant Ronalds Kenins, whose wrecking ball nature endeared him to Canucks management though he had some points to go along with it.
This year was different. When you looked at the Comets points leaders in mid-November, it was nothing but prospects. Shinkaruk, Grenier, Gaunce, and Linden Vey populated the top five, with Jordan Subban and Andrey Pedan lurking close behind. Gone are the days where journeymen lead the Comets.
So judging by how they made their call-ups last season, it made perfect sense that Gaunce, Shinkaruk and Grenier rattled off debuts in quick succession and that Andrey Pedan would be the most recent recipient of this honour – though he was shamefully assigned to a forward line rather than his natural position.
Brendan Gaunce, though he had just a goal and an assist in the five games he played before getting called up, had become a central player. The AHL doesn’t release TOI information (*shakes fist*), but I would guess that he would lead all forwards in ice time. He played in the top six, and he played on the first unit power play, and he was one of the team’s top penalty killers. The eTOI metric estimated his average ice time at 28:53 – that’s likely too high, but maybe not by much. It seemed like he was always on the ice. Unsurprisingly, pucks started going in left and right upon his return to Utica. He had four goals and two assists after being reassigned, before being sidelined by an injury.
Hunter Shinkaruk took the AHL by storm this year. By the team he received his call up on November 14th, he had ten goals in just 12 games and had already scored two hat-tricks. He had virtually forced management to call him up – to ignore him at that point would have been to set fire to any notion of rewarding good play. Especially in the “get it done league”.
Alex Grenier probably deserved a call-up last season, and might have gotten one if there had been a couple more late season injuries. Combined with a pretty strong training camp, that probably bought him some brownie points towards a look in the Show. He only had two goals at the time of his November 18th call-up, though he totalled seven points in 13 games. Add to that that he had already taken a team-leading 41 shots at that point and he’d even been in a couple of fights; what more could a Jim Benning possibly want?
The three defencemen who made their way on to the NHL roster were no-brainers from a Utica perspective. Pedan, Fedun and Biega and easily the Comets strongest blueliners. Biega is a valuable 7/8 defenceman and can hold his own in an NHL game. Fedun leads all Comets defencemen in points and the entire team in power play goals, quarterbacking the top unit. Pedan has been a workhorse on the back end, while boasting a 5-on-5 on-ice goals-for percentage of 55.6%, fourth best on the team.
That brings us to Ronalds Kenins, called up December 2nd. Kenins has played just seven games so far this season, missing 12 games with a lower body injury. In those seven games he has but a single assist and just eight shots on net. He hasn’t seen many goals either this season. He has an on-ice goals-for percentage of 50% at evens, but that’s just one goal in either net. The eTOI formula pegs his ice time at under seven minutes per game, despite playing mostly in the top six, with power play time.
This isn’t to say that Ronalds Kenins isn’t any good. He’s showed a bit of energy in recent games, and his line (playing with Alex Friesen and either Nicklas Jensen) has been one of the most dangerous ones for the Comets in his past couple of games.
All the same, it’s been just three games since his return from injury, and he hasn’t looked like the wrecking ball that we all came to love last year.
Speaking of last year, I get the feeling that Kenins’ performance in 2014-15 heavily influenced this decision. He was a revelation on a fourth line that also featured Jannik Hansen and Bo Horvat. He came with big hits and timely – if unlikely – goals. His arrival also coincided with Bo changing from a sheltered rookie to one of the team’s most significant contributors down the stretch.
Horvat scored 10 of his 13 goals last season following Kenins’ January 29th call-up though only five of them occurred while the two were on the ice together. Apparently just having Kenins in the near vicinity was enough to get Horvat going. According to Stats.HockeyAnalysis.com, Horvat’s on-ice Corsi per 60 increased from 46.15 to 54.65 when he shared the ice with Kenins, and his CorsiFor percentage went from 41.0 percent without Kenins to 50.3 per cent when they were together.
I think what we see here is an attempt to rekindle what the Canucks have lost. Bo Horvat’s current points per 60 minutes of 0.66 is a dreadful rate of production for a second line centre. If the Kenins call up is indeed to spark him, it might not be the worst idea.
Additionally, the Canucks have been getting pushed around of late, and their middleweight fist swingers haven’t been striking much fear into their opponents. To paraphrase something that Blake Price mentioned on TSN 1040’s midday show recently, the Canucks may need something more along the lines of the Michael Ferland-crazy eyes bowling ball hitting, rather than a couple of staged fights. Kenins can provide that, and it would be welcomed especially with Virtanen out of the lineup.
I hope that Kenins makes a difference tonight against the Stars. I hope that he can reignite the fires that powered the Latvian Locomotive late last season and into the playoffs. The Canucks could certainly use it.
One thing seems evident to me, though: this call up is not based on merit. At least not the merit of this season. Alex Grenier, Hunter Shinkaruk, or even Nicklas Jensen (who’s been looking like a changed man this season) would be more appropriate options if that were the case. It is based on a desperate attempt to bring back some semblance of life to a team that is floundering, using a tactic that worked wonders ten months ago. Hopefully, it works again.

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