NHL - Maurice is back with the Carolina Hurricanes
By Audrey Nolan
The Carolina Hurricanes announced this Wednesday that they fired Coach Peter Laviolette and named in his position the former coach Paul Maurice. Laviolette has won many games in his NHL career but the performance of his team has not been the best lately; they lost four of their last five games and that was the main reason why Carolina took the decision of replacing him.
The Hurricanes got the 2006 Stanley Cup from the hands of Laviolette, who did a great job that year, however, the team has failed on reaching the playoffs during the last two seasons and even though last month Laviolette was named the NHL's winningest American-born coach, with 244 victories in his career, it was not enough.
The general manager of the Hurricanes, Jim Rutherford, referred to team’s decision saying that "I'm very thankful to Peter for the job he has done. He did a lot of good things. He played a big part in bringing the Stanley Cup here. But we have a team right now that in my opinion is not playing with the kind of confidence it needs”.
Jim Rutherford also explained that this situation with the coaching staff is not just from the last four or five games, it comes long before that and they have been giving opportunities but the team doesn’t seem to get the confidence back; that confidence that made them win the Stanley Cup back in 2006.
On the other hand, Paul Maurice has a very good relationship with Jim Rutherford even though he fired him back in 2003, a year after he led the Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup final for the first time. Maurice was replaced back then by Laviolette, who is been dismissed now in his fifth season with the Hurricanes and who signed a contract for five years with Carolina in 2006 and had still two and a half years left in it. However, his position became insecure since last season’s end when the team was not able to make it to the playoffs for the second time in a row; that might have been a streak of bad luck for Laviolette though, since that was a season plagued with injuries for the team.
The returning coach, Canadian Paul Maurice, started his professional career as player in 1985 when he was selected by the Philadelphia Flyers in the NHL Entry Draft, but he had an early retirement due to a puck struck his eye during a charity game he played that same year. He began his coaching career with the OHL team Detroit Junior Red Wings in 1993 and spent two years with them during which they won the J. Ross Robertson Cup and finished as runner-ups in the Memorial Cup in 1995.
Later that year, at his 28-years-old, he became the youngest NHL coach of that moment when was hired by the Hurricanes (then known as the Hartford Whalers). Then, he spent the 2005-06 season with the Toronto Marlies but later has hired by their affiliate, the Toronto Maple Leafs and he stayed there until he was fired in March 2008, after reaching very good records with the team, but missing the playoffs twice.
Now Maurice is returning to the Hurricanes and the hopes are set on him because during his past tenure, the team had the best victories record, with 268 from 1995 to 2003. In his staff will be the Hockey Hall of Famer and former Carolina’s player, Ron Francis as his assistant.
About the Author
Audrey Nolan has been a prominent writer on daily National Hockey League reviews, sports news and sports betting industry updates for many exceptional sports web sites. You may reprint this article in its full content, please note no modifications to it are accepted.