Hurricanes exploring options with non-traditional power play

By Lethbridge Herald on October 3, 2025.

Nathan Reiter

Lethbridge Herald

It’s far from the most traditional option, but the Lethbridge Hurricanes are open to experimenting early in the season.

Through the first four games of the season, the Hurricanes have been deploying five forwards on their top power play unit. Most teams will have at least one defenceman on the ice while on the power play, with some deploying multiple at the same time depending on personnel. 

Easton Daneault, Hudson Kibblewhite, Luke Cozens, Shane Smith and Logan Wormald make up the five man unit for the Hurricanes. In an interview with the Herald, Smith says he’s enjoyed being part of the unit so far. 

“It’s definitely a little bit different. It’s not something I’ve been a part of before, but it’s good. We have confidence in those five guys and we think we can make some moves with having the five forwards out there.”

Last season, the Hurricanes had several defencemen see ice time on the man advantage including Noah Chadwick, Tristen Doyle, Logan McCutcheon and Caden Price.

With all four of those players no longer with the club this season, assistant coach Ryan Aasman says the Lethbridge coaching staff went with what they thought was the best unit to start the season. 

“I think we just thought about what we had for options. We got a young back end and Logan Wormald has been in the league for a long time and has some skill and has a Quinn Hughes look to him a little bit. I thought we’d give it a try and see how it worked. I thought there were a lot of moments where it looked good and there were some pieces there.”

So far this season, the Hurricanes rank 19th in the WHL in power play proficiency converting at a 12.0% clip with two goals in 16 opportunities. Lethbridge has seen the second most power play opportunities in the league, trailing only Saskatoon who has seen 19 man advantages.

In recent years, several WHL teams have utilized an all forward power play unit. The Medicine Hat Tigers utilized the strategy early in the season last year before adding Bryce Pickford to the unit while the Edmonton Oil Kings have also used five forwards on and off over the past several seasons. 

Aasman says the Hurricanes will continue to tinker with the power play personnel to find what works best for the team.

“I think there’s little underlying factors that really hurt with you having the five forwards back there. It’s definitely something we got to look at. I think if we score two seconds earlier in Calgary and maybe on the breakaway, we have a little bit better percentage and we like our power play a little bit more. We got to find ways to maybe shake it up and get guys into different spots for sure.”

The Hurricanes return to action on Saturday night when they welcome the Medicine Hat Tigers to the VisitLethbridge.com Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m.