New coach Peters looks to push Carolina Hurricanes to the max

Peter Koutroumpis, Triangle Sports Network
Peter Koutroumpis, Triangle Sports Network

RALEIGH, N.C. – Bill Peters was officially introduced as the new head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes by executive vice president and general manager Ron Francis at PNC Arena on Friday.

Peters takes over leadership behind the Hurricanes’ bench with prior stints at all levels of the game including the NHL (Detroit Red Wings), AHL (Rockford Ice Hogs), CHL (Spokane Chielfs), International (Canada U-18) and Canadian intercollegiate (University of Lethbridge Pronghorns) levels.

“Bill was highly sought after and I’m thrilled he chose to join our organization and I’m confident we have the right person to lead the ‘Canes going forward,” Francis began.

“He is organized, detailed, demands accountability and a high compete level from his players. He’s also a good communicator and teacher. All attributes that we felt were important for our next head coach to possess. He also comes from winning cultures.”

With a full room looking on, Peters addressed the team’s needs and his priorities almost immediately.

“We’re gonna’ have a very competitive hockey team,” Peters began.

“We know where our challenges lay, but we’re excited about the challenges. We’re gonna’ set the bar high. We’re gonna’ give our fans something we can be proud of and wanna’ watch each and every night.”

Having been wooed by two other teams, Peters selected Carolina to begin his NHL head coaching career, signing a three-year contract in doing so.

Going through his first head coach hiring process, Francis and his management staff took its time and interviewed 10 candidates before creating a short list of three who were brought in and included Peters.

“We’re really excited Bill chose to be part of our organization,” Francis said.

“He was the guy we wanted and we got him.”

It was a far back as May 20th when Peters came in to meet with the Hurricanes for his second interview.

Thus, as patient as Francis remained, so too did Peters, who was comfortable and impressed with his communication and interaction with the Hurricanes.

He studied the organization from top to bottom and got to know what he was getting himself into with the team’s current makeup.

Peters succinctly outlined what he and his staff would focus on immediately.

“I did my due diligence and went and looked at rosters for the teams that I was interviewing for,” Peters said.

“We’re not far off, he continued.

“I like our depth down the middle. I think we have a great (number) one pair in Sekera and Faulk. Obviously, we know where our challenges lay – if we can fix our power play, be a better team at home, and get off to better starts in games, we’re going to be a very competitive team. So what we’re gonna’ focus on is the attention to detail, and the system and structure is gonna’ protect the individual. I think there’s lots of pieces here, and it’s up to us as coaches and coaching staff once we finalize it to max our group out.”