Hurricanes fire Laviolette; Maurice returns Raleigh, NC (Sports Network) - The Carolina Hurricanes have made a coaching
change, replacing Peter Laviolette with his predecessor, Paul Maurice.
Maurice will return to the job he held for seven full seasons and parts of two
others before Laviolette took over 30 games into the 2003-04 campaign.
In addition, Ron Francis has been named an associate coach.
"This is a real strong addition with Paul and Ronnie leading our coaching
staff," said Hurricanes president and general manager Jim Rutherford. "As we
go into a very tough group of games in December, my hope is... More...
The Hurricanes are scheduled to honor Glen Wesley, who recently retired following 20 years of service in the NHL, according to the AP. Carolina will retire his uniform No. 2 prior to their February 17 game against the Boston Bruins, who were his original team back in 1987. Carolina GM Jim Rutherford said, "Glen played the most games as a Hurricanes player, and did so at a high level. We are honored to have been a part of his distinguished playing career and look forward to paying tribute to his accomplishments."
Our View:Wesley ranked sixth on the NHL's all-time list of games played by a defenseman, skating in 1,457 total games over 20 seasons with Boston, Hartford, Toronto and Carolina. He led Carolina to the Stanley Cup in 2006.
Chad LaRose has re-signed with the Hurricanes, according to the AP. The team avoided an arbitration hearing by inking him to a one-year deal, worth $875,000.
Our View:He was a member of their club that hoisted the Stanley Cup in 2006, and he reached new career highs with 11 goals and 23 points (over 58 games) last season. Two of his goals were game-winners and registered a hat trick on April 2 in a 6-2 win over the Lightning, and also scored a point in four of his last five appearances of the season.
The Hurricanes announced that Chad LaRose filed his salary arbitration, according to the Sports Network.
Our View:LaRose only scored 11 goals in 2007-08, but two of them were game-winners. He registered a hat trick on April 2 in a 6-2 win over the Lightning, and scored a point in four of his last five appearances of the season.
