Interesting news coming out of Carolina this morning, as the Hurricanes -- second place in the Southeast Division and eighth in the Eastern Conference -- have fired head coach Peter Laviolette and replaced him with a former bench-boss, Paul Maurice, as reported by TSN.
Laviolette becomes the third head coach to be fired this season -- and second from Southeast Division -- joining Tampa Bay's Barry Melrose and Chicago's Denis Savard.
After getting off to an 8-4-2 start to the season, the Hurricanes have gone just 4-7-0 since, including 1-4 over their past five games. Apparently that, combined with missing the playoffs the past two seasons, was enough to cost him his job.
This was Laviolette's fifth season in Carolina, while his teams have missed the playoffs in three of his previous four seasons. Though, the one year they did make the playoffs they won the Stanley Cup, defeating the Edmonton Oilers in seven games.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-03-2008 @ 11:29AM
Dan Daoust said...
You might add that this will be Paul Maurice's second go-round as coach of the Canes, and that he is coming off a couple of terrible seasons as coach of the Leafs.
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12-03-2008 @ 12:31PM
Orange Chuck said...
I love this trend of rehiring the guy you fired to replace the guy you hired in his place. Let's not give some young, talented assistant a chance to save the season, let's just rehash names from the past and hope they can do better now. Why do I have this feeling that this will not save the Titanic, simply help save anyone wanting to jump overboard doing it faster.
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12-03-2008 @ 3:02PM
John said...
Dear Peter Laviolette,
Thank you for making all the right moves, treating people right and instituting things that build unity in the team and community.
The 2006 Cup run will never be reproduced. It was a dream come true. And the truth is you won with a team that probably should not have and was not considered able to make it.
You have made more with less on every team you have coached.
So the Canes made a business decision today. That does not negate anything you did and the impact you have made on people's lives.
Thanks.
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12-03-2008 @ 7:28PM
carole said...
I couldn't have said it better myself.....except that Jim Rutherford can't do his job as GM...PK should fire him but I guess he likes the yes man!
12-03-2008 @ 5:01PM
timo k. pakkala said...
Wow, talking about surprizes. The biggest is replacing a coach that has done amazing things with a Team that was Disected after the Stanley Cup, with a Coach that can't do anything where he's at, and bringing him back when the Team is finally starting to heal and get it's members back. Ruthorford is making a huge mistake and I hope he is held accountable for his actions and doesn't get off the hook like these EX- CEO's that failed miserably and were rewarded. I'll stay home and watch, not buying tickets to fo see Maurice when I was glad he was finally gone!!!
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