Ex-Flames coach Bill Peters lands head coaching role in Canada
For the first time since being fired by the Calgary Flames partway through the 2019-20 season, Bill Peters is set to coach in Canada, as he has officially been named the head coach of the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
Peters was having good success with the Flames prior to his firing, leading them to a 50-25-7 record in 2018-19. However, he was fired just 28 games into the 2019-20 campaign after one of his former players, Akim Aliu, alleged that Peters had racially abused him.
Aliu alleged at the time that Peters had directed a racial slur towards him on several occasions while they were apart of the Rockford IceHogs in the AHL. Shortly after Aliu’s allegations, another one of Peters’ former players, Michal Jordan, said that the bench boss kicked him and punched another player during his time with the Carolina Hurricanes.
Frank Seravalli reports that the former pro hockey player has never received an apology from the 57-year-old coach.
“Checked in with Akim Aliu, who said Peters has still not apologized — 13 years after the incident, and nearly 4 years after it became public and cost him his NHL head coaching job,” Seravalli said.
Following up on Gregg’s report that Bill Peters is potentially next head coach in WHL Lethbridge.
Checked in with Akim Aliu, who said Peters has still not apologized – 13 years after the incident, and nearly 4 years after it became public and cost him his NHL head coaching job. https://t.co/NFMPpSDeYC
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) August 30, 2023
Once Peters’ hiring was officially announced, Aliu himself confirmed that the two have not spoken, although he says days ago a current NHL coach reached out to him days ago to try and put him in touch with Peters. Aliu sent out his response for everyone to see.
“I don’t feel that I have anything to say to Bill at this point,” Aliu wrote. “It has been 13 years since the incident happened and 4 since it’s become public, I’m curious as to why he wants to apologize now. Most folks don’t know the back story of all that transpired. After the incident happened instead of apologizing he did everything in his power to blackball me in the game for over a decade.
“He even went as far as to write a letter to Chicago management at the time stating it was either me or him, further alienating me from all of management. That Chicago team produced 5 NHL GM’s – Tallon, Chevy, Berg, Bowman and Dudley (I have a lot of love for Rick). That’s a large chunk of the league that believed I was a bad kid/person without even knowing what truly happened because I kept it to myself because I knew I had to suck it up to have any sort of career. It’s something I could never recover from and hockey was everything to me and my family.”
A current NHL Head Coach reached out to me last week to try and broker an apology on behalf of Bill Peters. So there is no ambiguity, this was my response verbatim. pic.twitter.com/i468vQ4erp
— Akim Aliu (@Dreamer_Aliu78) August 30, 2023
After being fired by the Flames, Peters wound up in the KHL in the two following seasons as the head coach of Yekaterinburg Automobilist. His stint in the KHL wound up being short-lived, however, as he was fired just 25 games into the 2021-22 campaign.
The Hurricanes have been in the market for a new bench boss after the departure of Brent Kisio, who joined the Vegas Golden Knights this offseason as an assistant coach. Peters will take over a team that had success last season, finishing second in the Central Division with a 36-26-3-3 record.
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