'A good time to move on:' Canes searching for coach after Peters resigns

Raleigh, N.C. — Bill Peters, head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes, told the team on Friday that he would resign his position after four years and a record of 137-138-53.

Peters had a year left on his contract but decided to let a new front office choose a new coach.

“I feel the incoming general manager should have the ability to hire his own head coach," Peters said in a statement released by the team.

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“We enjoyed our time in Raleigh, and my family will always feel a connection to North Carolina. I feel like this is a good time to move on, and I am looking forward to my next challenge,” Peters added.

Since his purchase of the team early this year, owner and CEO Tom Dundon has removed Ron Francis as general manager and, earlier this week, added a vice president of hockey operations.

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Carolina ended the 2017-18 season in 10th place in the Eastern Conference, 16 points out of a playoff berth. It was the ninth consecutive year without a postseason run for the team. The team will begin a coaching search immediately.

Dundon said he has "a lot of respect for Bill as a person and coach."

“We thank him for his time with the Hurricanes and wish him success in whatever comes next," Dundon said in a statement.

In an interview with Adam Gold and Joe Ovies on 99.9 FM The Fan, Dundon reiterated what he said following the end of the season - the Hurricanes are a franchise that needs to "do things differently."

"Bill is a good coach and good man. We were trying to work together. I think we all knew that we're all better off changing some things," Dundon said.

Team president and interim general manager Don Waddell said he had a "pretty good idea" after the season that Peters may move on from the Hurricanes.

"It was handled professionally. There was never any negative talk at all," Waddell said. "Bill is a good man. He's a good coach, but he also realizes he's been here four years and we haven't made the playoffs. A change is better for us as an organization and for him personally."

As for the now two-sided search, Waddell said the team will do both at once and not worry about filling openings in a specific order.

"Traditionally, you would probably say the GM has to come first, but Tom, the way he thinks –which he’s been very successful in all his businesses – he doesn't necessarily believe that you have to have the GM in place," Waddell said. "We’re going to run both searches. We're not going to wait for a GM to start the coaching search. If you hire the coach first, the GM comes in, he'll know who the coach is and know some of the staff that’s been put in place, and he's either going to accept that or he's not going to take the job."

Waddell said the team doesn't have a firm timeline for when it would like to make a hire.

"We have to do our homework. Since this announcement came out I've gotten seven phone calls from potential head coaches, a couple of agents that represent coaches have called me," he said. "The list is going to be very long of the people interested in this job, and that’s something we have to sort through first. We’re going to gather our list. Once we have that, we’ll start interviews."

Dundon said Waddell will be in charge of both searches.

"Don has a pretty good handle on who we should and shouldn't talk to," he said. "Then we'll decide who we want tot alk to and make a decision."

While neither Dundon or Waddell mentioned any specific candidates, Dundon said current assistant coach Rod Brind'Amour is someone the team would be "lucky to have."

"I really like the guy. He's great. He's really intelligent, he's committed, hard working," Dundon said. "He definitely has a lot of the qualities you would look for. We have to make sure we talk to enough people to make the best decision. But he's someone we'd be lucky to have if that's the way we decided to go."

The 53-year-old Peters figures to be a candidate for other openings around the league — including a team in his home province.

The Calgary Flames fired Glen Gulutzan earlier this week after missing the playoffs in his second season. Peters is a native of Three Hills, Alberta, who played college hockey in that province at Red Deer College under coach Mike Babcock — who eventually hired him as an assistant with the Detroit Red Wings.

Peters left the Red Wings' staff four years ago to take his first NHL head coaching job with Carolina, but was unable to end the team's playoff drought, which at nine years is one of the longest in NHL history.

The Hurricanes have made the postseason just once since winning the Stanley Cup in 2006, and just twice in 15 seasons. This will be their third coaching change since their last playoff appearance in 2009.

Peters' frustration became evident following a critical 3-1 loss to San Jose in February that cost them a chance to move into playoff position. After that game, Peters called his team out, repeatedly using the word "disappointing" while promising lineup changes that ultimately never came.