Jim Rutherford, President and General Manager of the National Hockey League’s Carolina Hurricanes, announced today the team has relieved Peter Laviolette of his coaching duties and that Paul Maurice will assume the role of head coach. Rutherford also announced that Ron Francis has been named the team’s associate coach, and that the remainder of the team’s coaching staff will remain in place.

>> team release

Laviolette's been rumoured to be on the hot seat most of this season, and with his team sliding in the standings, it's no surprise Carolina makes this move. What is a surprise is that they turn to Maurice, who was fired by GM Jim Rutherford 30 games into the 2003-04 season.

Maurice replaces Laviolette, who replaced him in 2003. They are the only two men who have ever coached the Hurricanes franchise, and apparently it's going to stay that way into the future.

Maurice was very popular in Toronto with the media, but his teams simply underperformed on the ice and were awful defensively and on the penalty kill. It's going to be interesting to see what he can coax out of the Hurricanes, who have a hodgepodge on defence and a real problem putting the puck in the net.

I don't think they make the playoffs.

UPDATE Also, I think this is really setting the table for Francis to take over as coach in the near future.