Bill Peters has not been able to lead the Carolina Hurricanes back to the NHL playoffs and after coming up short following his fourth season with the club Rich Hill Los Angeles Dodgers Jersey , announced Friday that he is resigning.

”I feel like this is a good time to move on,” Peters said in a statement issued by the team, ”and I am looking forward to my next challenge.”

Peters went 137-138-53 in his lone head coaching job in the NHL. He had one season left on the contract extension he signed in 2016.

New team owner Tom Dundon said he has ”a lot of respect for Bill as a person and coach.”

The move leaves the Hurricanes looking for a new general manager and head coach. Hall of Fame player Ron Francis was reassigned to another front-office position during the season.

”I feel the incoming general manager should have the ability to hire his own head coach,” said Peters, who was hired by Francis in 2014.

The 53-year-old Peters figures to be a candidate for other openings around the league – including a team in his home province.

The Calgary Flames fired Glen Gulutzan earlier this week after missing the playoffs in his second season. Peters is a native of Three Hills, Alberta, who played college hockey in that province at Red Deer College under coach Mike Babcock – who eventually hired him as an assistant with the Detroit Red Wings.

Peters left the Red Wings’ staff four years ago to take his first NHL head coaching job with Carolina, but was unable to end the team’s playoff drought, which at nine years is one of the longest in NHL history.

The Hurricanes have made the postseason just once since winning the Stanley Cup in 2006, and just twice in 15 seasons. This will be their third coaching change since their last playoff appearance in 2009.

Expected to be a playoff team this season Jason Sanders Color Rush Jersey , Carolina finished 14 points out of a postseason spot and in sixth place in the eight-team Metropolitan Division.

There’s been plenty of change over the past four months for the Hurricanes, who will have turnover in three key spots on the organizational roster.

Longtime owner Peter Karmanos Jr. sold the majority interest in the team to Dundon in January, and the Dallas billionaire shook things up when he reassigned Francis to the role of president of hockey operations. The new GM will report directly to Dundon.

Peters’ frustration became evident following a critical 3-1 loss to San Jose in February that cost them a chance to move into playoff position. After that game, Peters called his team out, repeatedly using the word ”disappointing” while promising lineup changes that ultimately never came.

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More NHL hockey: So far the trade for Chris Paul to give the Houston Rockets another superstar to help James Harden has worked famously.

Now the two, who have both had their fair share of playoff disappointments, will try to carry their regular-season success into the postseason when the Rockets open a first-round series with Minnesota on Sunday night.

The guards have been effusive in their praise for one another, with Harden recently joking that his relationship with the nine-time All-Star was ”love at first sight.” Paul didn’t go quite that far, but a huge smile crossed his often serious face when asked how their pairing has worked.

”Unbelievable,” he said. ”You just (don’t) get this opportunity too often in a career to play with somebody like James … you get a chance to appreciate greatness.

”What he’s doing on a nightly basis and stuff like that Sam Hubbard Color Rush Jersey , it’s crazy and I’m in awe,” Paul continued. ”I’m grateful I get to play alongside him.”

When told of what Paul said about him, Harden was quick to answer.

”You can tell,” he said. ”It feels like it’s been forever but it’s not even been a year yet.”

Their work in the regular season led the Rockets to a franchise-record 65 wins, their first No. 1 seed and sixth straight playoff appearance. They are looking to win the title for the first time capturing back-to-back championships in 1994-95.

For the 32-year-old Paul, it’s a chance for him to finally shake off years off playoff woes after making nine playoff trips without advancing past the second round. But if he is haunted by the ghosts of playoffs past, he wouldn’t acknowledge it and was dismissive when asked if he thought this was his best chance to win it all.

”I don’t know,” he said. ”I don’t think about all that.”

What he and the Rockets do know is that they’re facing a talented team in the eighth-seeded Timberwolves, who had to win their last regular-season game to get into the postseason. They ended the NBA’s longest active playoff drought with their berth, putting them back in the postseason for the first time since 2004 when they lost to the Lakers in the Western Conference finals.

Getting the Timberwolves into the playoffs is a huge accomplishment for the entire team http://www.ravensauthorizedshops.com/authentic-anthony-averett-jersey , but might mean just a little more to star Karl-Anthony Towns, who made a vow the night Minnesota selected him with the top overall pick in the 2015 draft.

”It means more than I think words can express honestly,” he said. ”I made a promise to … Flip Saunders and it meant a lot to me that I was able to keep my word.”

Some things to know as the Timberwolves and Rockets open their series:

BACK HOME

The series is a homecoming for Minnesota’s Jimmy Butler, who grew up in Tomball, a suburb about 35 miles from downtown Houston. But he insists he won’t have any time to get back out there this week.

”Nope,” he said. ”Zero (time). I ain’t even going home. I’m here to work.”

But he did spend a little time on Saturday reminiscing about his high school days when he idolized a former Rockets star.

”I used to walk around the hallways and in the gym thinking I was Tracy McGrady,” he said. ”I remember it like it was yesterday. He was my favorite player. I wanted to wear his number, wear his tennis shoes, all of that good stuff.”


Butler, who returned on April 6 after missing 17 games with a knee injury http://www.bengalsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-preston-brown-jersey , said he’s fully recovered from his injury and is ”well-rested” entering the playoffs.

PLAYOFF HISTORY

This is the second time these teams have met in the playoffs. Their other meeting came in Minnesota’s first trip in 1997, when the Timberwolves were swept in three games. That Houston team was led by Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler and Charles Barkley, and the Wolves featured Kevin Garnett, Stephon Marbury and Tom Gugliotta.

LIMIT KAT FROM LONG RANGE

The Rockets are resigned to the fact that Towns, who led the NBA in double-doubles, will get his points under the basket and plenty of rebounds.

”He’s going to get a double-double,” Houston coach Mike D’Antoni said. ”That’s who he is.”

However, they are not OK with letting him shoot 3-pointers. The 7-foot Towns ranked 14th in the league with a 42 percent average from 3-point range and knocked down a career-high 120 3-pointers this season.

”We (can’t) leave him open or let him walk into a 3 because we’re not guarding him,” D’Antoni said. ”We have to be aware of that. You can’t take away his post-ups and his moves in there. He’s going to score on anybody Cassius Marsh Color Rush Jersey , but you can do a really good job on the 3s.”

HARDEN’S MOTIVATION

Despite finishing as the runner-up for MVP last season and being a front-runner for this year’s award, Harden still faces plenty of criticism for some of his past performances in the playoffs, notably, a terrible performance in an embarrassing 114-75 elimination loss to San Antonio in the conference semifinals last season.

But he has never been motivated by criticism, and he finds his drive in a far different place.

”Just going out there and being the best that I can be,” he said. ”There’s no negativity that someone can say that can motivate me. Some people can get motivated by that. I don’t really care.”

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