The Victor Oreskovich experiment has ended its second short stint in up in the bigs. By being returned to Manitoba, and as tweeted by @sportsnetmurph, it suggests Mason Raymond and/or Chris Higgins is ready to step into the lineup.

Oreskovich seemed to be skating better last night, but will continue to serve as pure depth replacement. Unless he gets called back up, he'll finish as one of 11 out of 38 skaters this season with a negative rating (-1). Of those 11, four are in the minors (Volpatti, Rypien, Desbiens and Parent), two are gone (Perrault & Schaefer) and the rest are with Vancouver (Salo, Glass, Rome and Lapierre).

Raymond, as of this morning, wasn't so keen on his shoulder but it could be a case of a player simply gutting an injury out. If he's ready, Tambellini would theoretically bounce back to the fourth line with Glass and Lapierre. However if Higgins is ready, he could slot into either the second or fourth line vacancies as well as special teams. Higgins remains quite the intriguing X factor if we see more Montreal and less New York out of him.

Puck drops tomorrow at 7:30 PM PT at the Shark Tank, no doubt with a few members of smug nation in tow.