Spider-Man NL Posted December 15, 2003 Share Posted December 15, 2003 TSN.ca Staff 12/15/2003 The Carolina Hurricanes have fired head coach Paul Maurice and assistants Randy Ladouceur and Don Edwards. TSN has learned the new staff includes head coach Peter Laviolette with assistants Kevin McCarthy and Jeff Daniels. ''We're making a coaching change today,'' Hurricanes general manager Jim Rutherford said from Raleigh, N.C. ''We've hired Peter Laviolette.'' The Hurricanes have struggled to a record of 8-12-8-2 so far this season. They were held to a league-low 61 points in the 2002-03 season, one year after winning the Eastern Conference title. The 36-year-old Maruice was hired as head coach of the franchise 12 games into the 1995-96 season and had the longest tenure of any coach in the NHL. He was the second youngest coach in the league behind Boston's Mike Sullivan. Laviolette spent two seasons as head coach of the New York Islanders, compiling a record of 77-62-19-6. The Islanders made the playoffs both years, but were eliminated in the first round each time. ''Just watching from a distance, his two years with the Islanders, I like the way that team played,'' Rutherford said. ''It played a real aggressive style, they created a lot of things, scored a lot of short-handed goals. ''I think Peter has an aggressive style of coaching where there is a lot of puck pursuit. And I've talked to him since the middle of November, getting different ideas, and became very comfortable with him.'' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAussiePosse Posted December 16, 2003 Share Posted December 16, 2003 Wow, how many posts did you have today? 30? Anyway, I hope no-one's surprised about the firing of Maurice. While he is a good coach, his message was getting old (see Ron Wilson - Caps then Sharks). I think Maurice would do best on a younger team. It would be a great idea by the Panther's management to hire him. He's a great strategician (sp.? :-^), but connects well to younger players (remember the BCC line? Battaglia and Cole were both young'ns who were taken under Brindamour's wing and encouraged by Maurice. Anyway, we'll see as to where he goes. Larry Robinson's still available too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
habitual_hab Posted December 16, 2003 Share Posted December 16, 2003 at home the 'Cances are bringing in only 62% of capacity. They should be dropped from the league and their players selected by the other 29 teams in a waiver-type draft. http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/attendance?s...y_avg&year=2004 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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