The Calgary Flames have accepted the resignation of Bill Peters. Effective immediately, he is no longer the head coach of the hockey club. The team has concluded their investigation of the events brought to light this week by former NHL player Akim Aliu. Geoff Ward will serve as interim head coach.
Peters, who was hired in 2018 after resigning from his position with the Carolina Hurricanes, is alleged to have uttered several racial epithets during his time with the Rockford IceHogs in the 2009-10 season. He admitted as much in a letter to Flames GM Brad Treliving, but called it an isolated incident. Aliu disagreed with that letter, calling it “misleading, insincere and concerning.”
There were other claims of abuse from former players too. Michal Jordan, who played for the Hurricanes under Peters between 2014-16, alleged that the coach physically abused him and other players on the bench. New Carolina head coach Rod Brind’Amour, who served as an assistant at the time, confirmed the incident took place but told reporters it had been dealt with internally. Peter Karmanos, who was the owner of the Hurricanes at the time, told Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times that had he been made aware of the incident he would have fired Peters immediately.
The Flames won on Wednesday without Peters behind the bench. The team is sitting fifth in the Pacific Division with a 12-12-4 record.
The NHL released a statement explaining that their investigation into the incident is not over. Aliu and other relevant individuals will still meet with the league in the coming days.
Welp…
Ok
Smell ya
The fact that he never apologized to the person he made racist comments to shows his lack of character.
spot on
Mistake,
He put out a statement re the issue and addressed it. If you listen to Burke last night you’d have known why.
You made the mistake of cheering for the sens!
He never apologized to Aliu, he made a statement to his current GM and a general one. But if he had any remorse he would have personally spoken with Aliu. He did not. He wasn’t sorry for being a racist ahole, he was sorry he got caught.
Eugene,
Thank you Captain obvious ! He resigned saving face for the franchise and himself. We all make mistakes . Clearly he is paying for it.
The player’s account has been confirmed by others, it appears, but why did it take nine years for the outrage to surface? And why is his punishment the loss of his job? Does the punishment fit the crime?
We have no way to know what actually happened but the Flames had no other choice in order to protect their PR. For similar reasons it’d be shocking if Peters ever got another coaching job in the NHL.
Does being racist and abusive warrant the consequence of losing your job?
Tune in to my latest podcast where I weigh the pros and cons of firing a racist and abusive coach or not.
JD,
Doing pod cast what a joke the guy doesn’t know hockey lol
Why did it take 9 years you say? Because white supremacy and toxic masculinity are some helluva good drugs?
Spoken like a true brainwashed university student.
Sorry to inform you, JD, but no one cares about your podcast.
Same country that elected a lib Prime Minister who wears blackface. Often.
I have 14 loyal subscribers and I get dozens of clicks per month on my blog so I disagree. There will be a post up soon featuring your shoutout
Sox,
Exactly!
Gbear,
Ain’t that the truth he likely doesn’t even know what icing is!
Uvm,
Wow really! The guy dresses in a costume for halloween. What’s next someone dresses as a bear for halloween and because it’s a certain colour are we really that ridiculous in 2019. This is a hockey site.
JD,
I’m sure you created all 14 of them too just like your numerous handles lol.
Marner#16, I’m sure all of JD’s family members are loyal subcribers to his blog, LOL!
My blog is crashing from all the traffic today what have you done gbear this is a disaster
JDGoat,
First it was a podcast now it’s a blog sure. You are the biggest liar !
Which comment GBear? You know university students like those pernicious things such as evidence and facts.
That would be yours, OBP. Wrapping yourself in the cloak of virtue speak doesn’t equate to providing evidence, which you failed to do here.
Wow life comes at you fast. #1 seed to this in 7 months.
I have a problem with a guy losing his job over a 10-year-old incident that wasn’t a crime.
good thing you dont run the private business that employed him
You have a problem with consequences?
JD,
who ya talking to ???
Overall, Peters made out pretty well, considering he should have been blacklisted ten years ago.
JD vs Marner#16
JD,
I wanna hear this podcast when you have Marner on as your special guest. An hour of you boys going back and forth. Only way to settle this….
Who’s with me?
Oh god is that little dweeb trying to talk to me again. He still hasn’t learned about the blocked life after like 6 months? Some people
JD,
You never blocked me for 6 months lol. You said you we’re leaving you stayed you said you’d ignorane me you didn’t said you we’re leaving said I was blocked you have so many stories you should write a book.
Anytime anyplace lets do this!
dug,
A) He doens’t have a podcast.
B) He’s full of you know what and
C) I could made this A, he wouldn’t last!
apparently sarcasm flies right over your head
good job dodging the point son
its me
not sure why youre talking to yourself but if thats what you feel you need, go ahead.
u are one slow boomer, time to put the phone down dude
good to see youre taking my advice boomer lmfao
not sure where you learned english… did u drop out after 9th grade to work on ur pappys farm to make ends meet during the depression? u make boomers look like milennials jesus fkn christ looool
ur gibberish makes no sense old man, better take ur nap
On one hand, Peters does appear to have some issues with how he treats people, so he has no one to blame but himself. But the over the top virtue signaling by many is nauseating to read and listen too. Let’s put your lives under review, I bet we find some objectionable things there too.
Objectionable? Isn’t that a bit disingenuous? You mean mistakes and lapses in judgment that most humans are susceptible to on occasion, versus those who cross the line into racism?
“On one hand, Peters does appear to have some issues with how he treats people”
We’re not talking about a man with basic anger issues. You come across as someone trying to minimize the impact of racism..
So if someone uses the N word at some point in their life, that makes them a racist? I doubt many of us haven’t at some point in time used language they wished they hadn’t. It doesn’t make them a racist.
Gbear,
Agreed the problem is in 2019 people are too “soft” or “sensitive” not like it was. I don’t condone using that word but my goodness people complain about everything these days. Lets go back to the those days. Go Leafs!
Using the word may not make you a racist but the way in which Peters did makes him a terrible person
And Marner, seriously dude we get that you’re white but calling a minority sensitive because someone used an outdated slur proves that you’re still living in the 60s when the leafs could actually win the Cup. Maybe you should try to look at things from a different point of view.
Whatever happened to 3 strikes. You can actually murder someone and get a 2nd or 3rd chance. 10 years ago this happened and we are talking about an older gentleman. I am sure things were different when he was growing up. The Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wore Black face at least 3 times in the past and apparently that’s not a big deal as he has his job. The way to change people is through education. If we start firing everyone for something they said or did in the past then we will all need a new job. #WordsvsDeeds
Nobody said anything about firing people for every controversial/insensitive thing said.. A line was crossed here, in my opinion, and more than once.
Peters isn’t being thrown in jail or forced into other harsh conditions. He just doesn’t have the privilege of working as an NHL coach anymore. He can find work elsewhere, if he wants to.
So according to your line of thinking, being an NHL coach is a more virtuous endeavor than other lines of work? Why would you excuse what you deem to be Peters “racism” in other fields of work? Not very consistant reasoning.
“I don’t understand why Bill Peters is out of a job. All he did was use racist language while punching and kicking his players???”