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Bill Peters Named Head Coach Of Team Canada At World Championships

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Bill Peters may not be secure in his NHL coaching position with the Carolina Hurricanes, but that hasn’t stopped him from adding another coaching job to his resume. Sportsnet reported this evening that Hockey Canada has named Peters the head coach of the Canadian team at the upcoming IIHF World Championship. The tournament runs from May 4th – 20th in the cities of Copenhagen and Herning, Denmark.

This won’t be Peters’ first go-round at the World Championships, as he has previously coached for Team Canada on two other occasions, including leading the team as head coach to a 2016 title. The Alberta native was also an assistant coach for Canada’s World Cup team during the summer of 2017.

Peters won’t be without an impressive support staff in Denmark, as Florida Panthers head coach Bob Boughner and St. Louis Blues head coach Mike Yeo were named his assistants. Yeo has previously served as an assistant for the World Championships team, while Boughner will make his coaching debut at the tournament. In Yeo and Boughner, Peters and Team Canada not only add extensive experience, but also the two coaches who came closest to earning an NHL playoff spot this season, each missing out by only one point.

No Decision Made On Carolina Coaching Staff

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Nothing Thomas Dundon has done since taking over the Carolina Hurricanes could be called business as usual, and today he continued his hands-on approach, conducting the season-ending press conference by himself. Dundon also conducted the exit interviews with players according to Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer, something that Ron Francis had done when he was GM.

Part of the need for Dundon to take over these duties is that the Hurricanes’ search for a new GM is still ongoing, while there has been no decision yet on whether Bill Peters will be back as head coach. Dundon seemed to give Peters a vote of confidence earlier this season, but has always maintained that everyone would be evaluated at the end of the year.

Peters has been the head coach of the Hurricanes for four seasons now, and Dundon confirmed that the coach has an option for the final year of his current contract. Four consecutive years out of the playoffs would put any coach on the hot seat, and Dundon admitted that he still needs to think about it and talk to Peters about the future and how they want to run the organization.

Don Waddell is serving as “interim GM” according to Dundon, and will handle the day to day operations at the moment, but one can assume there will be changes in Carolina before the start of 2018-19. That makes the Hurricanes a team to watch over the next few months, especially as the draft and free agency closes in.

Minor Transactions: 4/8/18

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With the Eastern Conference still undecided until today’s final regular season game, the Western Conference has no questions as the Colorado Avalanche finished off the St. Louis Blues in a 5-2 victory Saturday as they clinched the final playoff spot. The Nashville Predators got the top spot and will face the Avalanche. In other first-round matchups, the Vegas Golden Knights will face the Los Angeles Kings, the Anaheim Ducks will face the San Jose Sharks and the Minnesota Wild will face the Winnipeg Jets. 

Florida Panthers’ Radim Vrbata To Retire After Season

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The Florida Panthers honored veteran Radim Vrbata during tonight’s game and announced that tonight’s game against the Buffalo Sabres will be his final appearance in an NHL uniform. He is not expected to play tomorrow and will retire at the end of the season, confirms Buffalo News’ Mike Harrington.

The 36-year-old winger has only appeared in 41 games this season and hasn’t played since March 8. He has just five goals and 19 points this season, a far cry from a season ago, when he scored 20 goals and tallied 55 points with the Arizona Coyotes.

In his 17-year career, Vrbata has played for multiple teams, including the Colorado Avalanche, Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Blackhawks, Phoenix/Arizona Coyotes, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vancouver Canucks and the Panthers. He has played in 1,056 games, putting up 284 goals and 339 assists for 623 points and had two 30-goal seasons.

Black Monday: The Day The Coaches (Could) Disappear

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The NHL looks like it will finish an entire season without seeing a single coach fired for the first time since expansion in 1967, but there could be a dark lining on that stat coming next week. “Black Monday” as it is being termed could be coming after the final game of the regular season this Sunday, with close to a dozen coaches finding themselves on the hot seat.

In last night’s Insider Trading segment on TSN, Bob McKenzie broke down a list of potential firings that looked like this:

Glen Gulutzan, Calgary Flames
Bill Peters, Carolina Hurricanes
Joel Quenneville, Chicago Blackhawks
Jeff Blashill, Detroit Red Wings
Todd McLellan, Edmonton Oilers
Doug Weight, New York Islanders
Alain Vigneault, New York Rangers
Guy Boucher, Ottawa Senators
Barry Trotz, Washington Capitals

Some of these names simply don’t have a contract for next season, including Trotz, who also happens to be the only coach on the list heading to the playoffs. The Capitals have won the Metropolitan Division for the third year in a row, but will be judged entirely on their postseason performance. Washington must find some success past the second round, or there could be a shake up in order starting with the man behind the bench.

The rest of the list is a who’s who of disappointing seasons, with Quenneville sticking out like a sore thumb. Arguably one of the best coaches of all-time, Quenneville’s firing could cause what McKenzie terms a ripple effect throughout the league. Though he doesn’t expand on that idea, many have wondered whether another team would fire their incumbent to have the opportunity to hire Quenneville should he become a free agent, much like the Montreal Canadiens did last season when Claude Julien was let go from Boston.

In New York, while both coaches might not be back it would be for very different reasons. Vigneault has had a lot of regular season success with the Rangers, but as they enter into an unfamiliar rebuild they could want to start with a fresh face behind the bench. For Weight and the Islanders, this season was an abject failure as they tried to woo John Tavares with a trip to the postseason. They won’t get there, and now have to worry about whether their captain and superstar will stick around.

There could be many other names you could suggest for the list, and it is extremely unlikely that all of these will get the boot before the start of 2018-19. You can be sure some changes are coming though, even if it does come after a remarkable season of patience by general managers around the league.

Snapshots: Kane, Martin, Rasmussen, Rask, Hart

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While it’s not a big surprise, the play of San Jose rental Evander Kane has opened some eyes in the NHL. In 15 games with the Sharks, the 26-year-old has put up nine goals and five assists, showing he has the skills to be the star winger that many teams thought he could be despite some mid-season struggles with the Buffalo Sabres.

Despite getting Kane for a reduced price because of the lack of interested teams, don’t expect that to be the case this offseason. While it is believed that the San Jose Sharks will try to re-sign him this summer, The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz (subscription required) writes in a mailbag column that no extension talks have begun and the price should be quite high as many more teams are likely to be in on Kane. In fact, Kurz writes the forward will be looking for both term and salary in this deal and could cost the Sharks as much as seven years at $7MM per season, which he believes will likely happen

  • Kurz also mentions in his mailbag feature that it is extremely likely the team will buyout defenseman Paul Martin, who has one more year next season at $4.85MM. The 37-year-old blueliner has slowed down and has only managed to appear in 10 games for the Sharks this year and spent 18 games with the San Jose Barracuda of the AHL, the first time he’s ever played in the AHL. A buyout would save the Sharks $2.83MM in cap space for next season, which they might want if they intend to sign a big-named free agent.
  • Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press writes that 2017 first-round pick Michael Rasmussen has been playing some of the best hockey of his career in the WHL playoffs. One big difference is that the center has occasionally moved to the wing during recent games due to his excellent chemistry with Carolina Hurricane’s prospect Morgan Geekie. His success at the wing could be a good sign if the 19-year-old prospect hopes to make the Red Wings squad out of training camp. Rasmussen, who has had 31 goals and 59 points (along with five goals and 12 points in four playoff games) for the Tri-City Americans, could be a key rebuilding chip for a struggling Detroit squad.
  • Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News-Observer tweets that Carolina Hurricanes forward Victor Rask, who was declared out for the season almost two weeks ago, had successful surgery on his shoulder and is expected to be ready for training camp next season assuming his rehab goes well. The 25-year-old had 14 goals and 31 points this season.
  • The Athletic’s Alexander Appleyard (subscription required) breaks down the amazing success that Philadelphia Flyers prospect goaltender Carter Hart has had this year. Besides the amazing, eye-popping numbers of a 1.60 GAA and a .947 save percentage with the Everett Silvertips of the WHL, the 19-year-old has had a such a dominating season that no other goalie’s numbers are even close to Hart. Appleyard continues to break down 106 seasons between the WHL, OHL and the QMJHL combined and can’t find a year in which a prospect had this great of a season in comparison to his peers. Hart is expected to get more seasoning next year in the AHL before he takes over in Philadelphia.

Minor Transactions: 03/29/18

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The Arizona Coyotes are playing the ultimate spoiler down the stretch, winning again last night against the Vegas Golden Knights to draw even with the Vancouver Canucks for last in the Western Conference. Arizona has played well of late, giving them some hope for next season as they look to build around a young core.

For the Coyotes and all the teams out of the playoffs, now is the time to experiment with players who might not have had a chance to prove what they can do earlier in the season. With that, we’ll keep track of all the minor transactions around the league right here.

  • The Boston Bruins have sent Paul Postma back to the minors while recalling Tommy Cross under emergency conditions. Cross, the Providence Bruins captain, has played 66 games in the AHL this season and could be getting just a nice bonus for a good season. The 28-year old defenseman wasn’t on any of the pairings at morning skate, as both Zdeno Chara and Matt Grzelcyk took their normal spots.
  • The Ottawa Senators have recalled Colin White under emergency conditions, and announced that Chris Wideman will not play again this season. White has played 15 games with the Senators this season, but failed to make enough of an impact to keep him in the lineup full-time. The 21-year old forward is still a big part of the Senators’ future, but hasn’t had the season many had hoped from him after his dominant career at Boston College.
  • Josh Jooris has been recalled by the Pittsburgh Penguins as Derick Brassard battles injury, meaning Riley Sheahan probably moves back to the third line center position. Jooris was acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes for just this reason, giving the Penguins some added depth should they face injury.
  • Pheonix Copley has been re-assigned once again, sent back to the minor leagues after a short recall. Copley has been filling in for the Washington Capitals when needed, but still hasn’t actually entered a game.
  • Spencer Foo is coming up for the Calgary Flames, using their fourth post-deadline recall. Foo was signed out of the NCAA last spring, and has made an impact in the AHL during his first season of professional hockey. He’ll likely get a chance to make his NHL debut over the last week of the season, and compete for a full-time job next fall.
  • With Semyon Varlamov (illness) and Jonathan Bernier (infection) both expected to be available on Friday night, the Avalanche have returned goaltender Spencer Martin to San Antonio of the AHL.  Martin has not seen any action with Colorado this season but has appeared in 32 games at the minor league level, posting a 3.02 GAA and a .895 SV%.

Minor Transactions: 03/28/18

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Tonight’s games are the first time the NHL situation room will have control over goaltender interference reviews, which will undoubtedly come up at some point in the four games on tap. If it does, we’ll get to see the first instance of what should be a more consistent decision-making process. Hopefully, all the kinks will be ironed out before the playoffs start in a few weeks.

As always, we’ll keep track of all the minor moves around the league heading into tonight’s action. Check back throughout the day for more updates.

Carolina Hurricanes Sign Jeremy Helvig To Three-Year Deal

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The Carolina Hurricanes have inked one of their previous draft picks, signing Jeremy Helvig to a three-year entry-level contract. The deal is worth $650K in 2018-19, and $700K in the following two years (with respectively smaller number if he plays in the AHL). Helvig played this season for the Kingston Frontenacs, and needed to be signed by June 1st.

Helvig was selected in the fifth round two years ago after an exceptional 2015-16 campaign with the Frontenacs as a part-time starter. Since then, he’s taken over the starting job but has put up less impressive results. That won’t stop the Hurricanes from developing him as a legitimate NHL prospect though, given his size—6’4″ 2o7-lbs— and athleticism.

Currently in the OHL playoffs against North Bay, if Kingston is eliminated soon he could get into some action at the AHL level on an amateur tryout. Neither goaltender in Charlotte has put together an outstanding season, though the Checkers are headed for the playoffs themselves. If the Hurricanes really want to challenge Helvig, he could jump right into game action this season. Since he turns 21 in May, he’ll be headed to the minor leagues next year anyway.

Bill Peters Can Opt Out Of Contract; Hurricanes Recall Warren Foegele

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  • Hurricanes head coach Bill Peters has an opt-out in his contract that will permit him to see what other opportunities might be out there, reports Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (video link). This is his fourth season with Carolina and unless they pull off a stunning run and get some luck along the way over the next two weeks, he will have missed the postseason in each of those years.  Peters has one year remaining on his contract.
  • Still with Carolina, the Hurricanes announced that they have recalled winger Warren Foegele from Charlotte of the AHL. The 21-year-old is in his first professional season and sits tied for seventh in the AHL in goals with 26 in 65 games with the Checkers.  This is his first recall to Carolina.

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