Lethbridge Hurricanes clean house; name Peter Anholt new GM-head coach

Just a day after announcing the firing of head coach Drake Berehowsky, the Lethbridge Hurricanes decided more change was needed. They axed general manager Brad Robson and named assistant GM Peter Anholt the team’s new bench boss and architect. Not making all the moves on the same day shows there is a direction problem within the organization, but at least the team finally made big changes after desperately needing them for quite some time.

Robson held Lethbridge’s general manager duties since the beginning of the 2013-14 season before being the team’s director of player personnel and scouting for four seasons. The Hurricanes frankly fell apart during his year and a half as the GM as they went 18-74-5-4 and started this season with a 6-19-3-1 record. Over 50 different players have suited up in a Lethbridge uniform over that time because handfuls, including premier blueliner Ryan Pilon and Minnesota Wild pick Reid Duke, asked for trades. Some of the trade requests were because of a difference of opinion with Berehowsky, but Robson still has to own that to some extent because he hired the former NHL defenceman shortly after he was named the GM.

While taking into account that Robson was in a vulnerable position because of trade requests, he still made some head-scratching deals. The biggest of them all was when he dealt Duke and Macoy Erkamps to the Brandon Wheat Kings in late September for three depth players. The belief that there should have been a better market for an NHL draft pick and a top-4 defenceman was confirmed when BTN editor Sunaya Sapurji did some investigating. Three WHL general managers practically told her that Robson wouldn’t engage with them in a negotiation for Duke. One went to the extent of saying that “We could have offered a better deal.”

With 13 years of coaching experience in the WHL, Anholt, whose contract hasn't been revealed, takes on the role with a strong familiarity with the league. He did, however, hold a below .500 record in eight of those seasons and has never been a general manager. Therefore, it’s not as though he’s joining the Hurricanes with a Kelly McCrimmon-like reputation.

It seems a better move would have been bringing in someone from outside of the organization rather from within when considering the team’s circumstances. Someone like former Saskatoon Blades GM-head coach Lorne Molleken would have given the team a truly fresh start rather than just a new chapter under a different GM-coach. The Hurricanes would have greatly benefited from bringing someone in who has proven that he can recruit well through the bantam and import drafts. Molleken did lose his last 12 playoffs games, but worrying about post-season success is a little premature for Lethbridge.

Nonetheless, Anholt will get his opportunity to prove that he’s the man for this uphill task largely because he was believed to be the best option within Lethbridge's tight budget. The first order of business for him is to establish a new atmosphere around the rink and more structure in how the ‘Canes play the game. From there, he will be expected to slowly but surely rebuild Robson’s botched rebuild and get them back into the playoffs for the first time since 2008-09. It will be a long process, but it’s possible with rookie sensation Stuart Skinner in net and prized 2014 bantam pick Jordy Bellerive in their arsenal.

The decision to fire Robson and Berehowsky hits the locally owned Hurricanes’ pocket books. Robson is under contract until the end of the 2015-16 season while Berehowsky was signed until the remainder of this season. It obviously isn’t an ideal situation for a team that is believed to have lost over a million dollars over the last five years, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

When the Hurricanes face the Kelowna Rockets at home tonight, assistant coach Bryan Maxwell will be the interim head coach until Anholt joins the team tomorrow.

Kelly Friesen is a Buzzing the Net columnist for Yahoo! Sports. Follow him on Twitter @KellyFriesen