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NHL draft prospect Ryan Pilon third player to leave WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricanes since start of season

Neate Sager

One would almost hope this is tied solely to the Lethbridge Hurricanes' record. Defenceman Ryan Pilon, a 2015 NHL draft prospect whose season began auspiciously with a stint with Canada's under-18 team in the summer, has become the third player to leave the Western Hockey League cellar dweller since the beginning of the season. The Hurricanes have just two wins and seven points at the 18-game quarter-pole in the WHL and are already seven points out of next-to-last place. Former star Kris Versteeg recently made a public pitch to buy the community-owned team and transfer it to private ownership.

Suffice to say, having a former No. 3 overall bantam draft pick who was considered a huge building block does little to refute the perception of a team that is in an utter uproar. Lethbridge GM Brad Robson previously traded two veteran forwards who had gone home to the Seattle Thunderbirds. All three were alternate captains.

It forms the impression there's something really off here, under first-time major junior coach Drake Berehowsky and assistants Mike Craig and Brad Lukowich. As Sportsnet's Sam Cosentino put it:

"I'm not so sure these three guys have had extensive coaching experience in the Canadian Hockey League with players in this age group. The game's changed dramatically since then ... when you look at three National Hockey League guys ... they want to do things the way the way they were taught and the way that they were coached. That may not work with (a) today's style of game, the way it's changed since those guys played and (b) how players are, especially young ones. I call it the 'entitlement era.'

"... It looks like a situation where Pilon said, 'You know what, I saw what happened last year, I didn't like it. The coaching change has obviously had an impact. So this is how I want to go about my business.' ... This is no good for anybody. It's a situation where you have a guy who is this high level and he's a huge movable piece, defencemen are hard to come by

"... It sucks for everybody. The only people it's going to be good for is the team who gets him." (The Pipeline Show)

A player's spot on a major junior team is ultimately a business deal, but it is always regrettable to see it end poorly with a promising player. That goes double when it happens before Pilon has even played in 100 games for the 'Canes. The Duck Lake, Sask., native, listed at 6-foot-2 and 212 pounds, is considered exceptionally light on his feet and quick for his size.

Does that come back to being a desperate team who went for a Big Shiny Thing — a coach with a pro résume — to impress shareholders, rather than going with a junior coach? In the big picture, though, this does little to defuse the hankering to see the Hurricanes have a top-down change. Former 'Cane Brody Sutter, whose uncle Rich Sutter was interested in buying the team a few years ago, spoke out on Tuesday night:

The rub is, though, that the desire for change is not necessarily shared by the team's shareholders. Simply put, people like having a say in the team's direction, whatever that direction might be.

As 'Canes play-by-play voice Pat Siedlicki put it:

"If you poll the fans, they're probably a 50/50 split. Don't forget there are several people who are not shareholders of this hockey club. If it was to go to a vote to sell the team, unless you own a share, you can't vote on that ... I get the feeling, from the shareholders I've spoken to, the majority of those are not really willing to give up their right to have a vote.

"... I think Kris Versteeg is a very admirable guy for wanting to own the Hurricanes or at least expressed an interest ... But the board of directors has made it very clear that this team is not for sale. In the end, the Western Hockey League decides who owns its teams." (The Pipeline Show, starting 17:30 into clip)

On the plus side, anyone who boards the #CaneTrain today will own everlasting proof he or she is the farthest thing from a fair-weather fan.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet. Please address any questions, comments or concerns to btnblog@yahoo.ca.