Canes Fire Laviolette, Bring Back Maurice
The
Carolina Hurricanes
today fired coach Peter Laviolette and will have a press conference at 11:30 to announce his replacement (updated: see below). Laviolette was 167-122 and led the club to its first Stanley Cup in 2005. However the team barely missed the playoffs in each of the last two seasons and is currently in that same zone, 8th place in the Eastern Conference.
Thanks, coach, for a fun ride. We wish you the best, and know that you’ll land on your feet somewhere else.
WRAL is confirming that the replacement will be former Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice. Since leaving Raleigh Maurice had worked his way up in the Toronto Maple Leafs system, and was the Leafs head coach for approximately two years until he was fired during last season.
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December 3rd, 2008 at 12:24 pm
I saw this from a mile away. Well, not maurice, but lavi being let go. With on power play goal in the last month and half, something had to happen. As JR said, it is the simple things like shortenhing shifts, motivating the team, etc. I think there were issues that the average fan did not see. Remember Brindy saying after they won the cup about Lavi (joking but serious about the beginning of the relationship), “it was either going to be me or him but both of us would not be staying”.
My personal thoughts are he kept coming back with the same thing. Such as when Staal gets lazy and does nothing, even though he may be hurt, he keeps playing him 20-25 minutes. Should sit Staal down for 7 to 8 minutes and see if he puts out some effort.
Also, he changes his lines to much.
JMHO. I think you will see Francis take over the head coach job next year….maybe.
The canes were loosing to many fans during this large string of home games due to boring play and the org can not loose any more fans.
I like lavi but something had to give. Next move, trade out some more big names.
December 3rd, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Okay, I get that in professional sports you have to make changes. But Paul Maurice!? — Really? — Really?
The guy just oozes loser.
‘Canes organization look like fools today.
December 3rd, 2008 at 12:33 pm
I disagree about the “loser” comment. Coaches deal with the players the GM gives them. Toronto’s talent level slumped over the last few years as they got old. Mo, after all, IS the guy that took us to within 3 wins of the ’02 Stanley Cup.
However this is likely a bookkeeping move. We keep hearing about the economy, and major business are making big changes. Yet we had not seen anything from a local outfit using a $160M facility that relies mostly on disposable income??? I’m sure Mo is just happy to be in the saddle, and is doing it for a song.
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:07 pm
It fits in with the Raleigh theme of “back to the future”.
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:14 pm
Mo NOOOOOOO!!!! (see what I did there? Mo must Go? Anyone?)
December 3rd, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Dana, re: the money issue. I think you are forgetting that coaches STILL get paid, even if they are fired, so in this instance they are paying 2 head coaches.
Also, I have yet to see many fans excited about this news. I bet Craigslist is going to be bombarded with Canes tickets for sale ’til the end of this season.
December 3rd, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Dana, my ‘loser’ comment was directed, perhaps unfairly, to Maurice’s demeanor and not so much his record. Although I am still convinced he’s a bit amateurish.
December 3rd, 2008 at 5:04 pm
They have got to be grooming Ronnie “Franchise” as he would be the obvious choice but has no head coaching experience. I just hope and pray that Maurice has adapted his style cuz the clutch and grab aka dump and hope … or any derivative of … is NOT going to put fannies in the seats.
I’d like to say this is a good move, but it just doesn’t sit right.
December 3rd, 2008 at 7:37 pm
We will see, but as someone who has missed 3 home games this season and seen them on 2 away games, they had to do something. Their play was just bad. Worse at times than 2003/04 which I sat through 38 home games of the most boring hcokey a human can sit through.
I don’t think Mo is here for the long term and he knows that. If he wins, he will stay but please tweak the system where a forward will play some kind of D. And somebody, please hit somebody in the corners.
December 4th, 2008 at 9:31 am
I agree with Subway Scoundrel in that their play was just boring. As an original fan since Gboro I gave up my season tickets last year because the style of play changed and their was no effort put forth to win at all costs. Changes had to be made and the easiest and most cost effective was to fire Lavi.
As much as I disagree with the decision to bring back Mo, economically it makes sense. We are still paying Lavi for another 2.5 years so the money isn’t there. Mo is still drawing a salary from Toronto so we are getting him at an extreme discount. I do believe Mo is here to transition the team to being lead by Ronnie Franchise. This way if the experiment fails Mo takes the blame and Franchise doesn’t have a blemish on his record.
December 6th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Maurice is a good coach – but not a GREAT coach. My perception is that this is a WTF move by the Canes, but whatever – let the chips fall and see what happens. I don’t dislike Paul Maurice (after all, he did get the Canes to the finals once before and did pretty well with a lousy Maple Leafs team) but I’m not in love with the guy. I’m curious to see how the team will respond with Francis behind the bench.