As the Canucks fight their way back to relative health, reinforcements become less and less necessary. Vancouver took a large step today towards culling the herd, assigning Alex Biega and Brendan Gaunce to the Utica Comets. 

Jacob Markstrom will be joining those two, courtesy of a conditioning stint. The Canucks backup netminder is set to return from a hamstring injury, sustained in the days prior to the season opener. 

The timing of this move is peculiar to say the least, at least where the inclusion of Biega is concerned. Based on the (not-so updated) roster on the Canucks website, they will be carrying no more than six healthy defencemen on their roster – assuming nobody is called up in Biega’s stead. 

Depending on how far one chooses to look into this, it could mean any number of things. Does this mean the injury Luca Sbisa sustained against the Arizona Coyotes isn’t as severe as originally presumed? Or could this be a move leading up towards the recall of another, younger Canucks defender?

Entirely possible it could be either of those two. Realistically though, they might just be trying to fit a Biega assignment in before he’s spent enough league days with the team to require waivers.

While Gaunce showed well in his briefest of appearances, sending him down at this juncture is the sensible decision. With the return of Chris Higgins from a pre-season foot injury, the Canucks hardly have the roster space to accommodate their waiver vulnerable youngsters. 

The Markstrom news isn’t overly surprising… if at all, really. Jim Benning vocalized the desire to get him some game action before throwing him to the NHL wolves just a few days earlier.

With the Utica Comets, Markstrom is likely to get game action this Friday and Saturday as the Comets face the Toronto Marlies and Albany Devils, in that order. It will be a nice test for Markstrom’s ailing hamstring and a surefire way to get him back into the swing of things all the same.