Bill Peters locked up by Carolina Hurricanes through 2019

There were 12 coaches who earned votes for the Jack Adams Award last season. Bill Peters of the Carolina Hurricanes wasn’t one of them, despite having guided his team to within seven points of a wild card spot while having a bottom five payroll.

But while the voters didn’t appreciate him, the Hurricanes do. Peters was handed a new contract that extends the 50-year-old coach through the 2018-2019 season, as Carolina announced on Wednesday.

“Bill is a talented, young coach in the National Hockey League,” said Ron Francis, Executive Vice President and General Manager. “We are happy that he has made a commitment to the Hurricanes, and that he will be a major part of the team continuing to grow.”

In two seasons, Peters has gone 65-72-27 with the Hurricanes. Their 86 points last season was their highest point total since 2010-11.

He’s just a really solid coach, who had the team moving in the right direction defensively in his first season and saw the trend continue last season when the Hurricanes were 11th in the NHL in even-strength Corsi (51.5).

This is what they expected when hiring a Mike Babcock assistant from the Detroit Red Wings, and Peters has proven them right. “He’s learned a lot of things and we’re hoping he can apply them to our organization,” said Francis in 2014.

(Somewhere, there’s an alternate timeline where Peters accepts the Pittsburgh Penguins’ offer to coach their team instead of the Penguins hiring Mike Johnston. Wonder what would have happened there…)

Great coach. Great hair. And good things ahead for the Hurricanes in keeping Peters around.

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.