Paul Maurice. The name seems oddly familiar...

A surprise move by the Canes today: Coach Peter Laviolette has been fired.

Well, that's actually not the surprising part. Considering the lackluster play the Canes had been putting out recently, and the impatience of, well, a lot of people, primarily the fanbase, I'm not that surprised to see Laviolette relieved of his duties. It's not like his seat was ice-cold or anything.

But, (Surprise! Surprise!) guess who the Canes hired in place of him?

Paul Maurice.

*facepalm*

Yes, the Canes re-hired someone they fired, hm... back in the 03-04 season? Yes, it was the season before the lockout.

Let me state that again: The Canes fired Lavi to re-hire the guy Lavi was hired to replace.^†

Not to mention - Maurice was removed from his duties as Maple Leafs coach a year ago. Do we really want to be coached by a Toronto Maple Leafs cast-off?

The only thing about this move that is in anyway redeeming, or, to be honest, that makes any amount of sense is the move of Ron Francis to Associate Head Coach. Having a guy like Ronnie on your side is a plus in any situation where hockey knowledge is required.

The rest of the coaching staff remains the same - which begs the question, why not just promote one of those guys? You can't tell me that we couldn't have just gone in-house for this one. (Although, I realize that this pretty much is "in-house").

I don't get it. I just don't get why we're re-hiring someone who didn't work out for us in the past. If anyone can shed any sort of light on this, please try and help me understand this move.

Maurice's first game is tomorrow against the Pens. Oh dear...

^† Doesn't this sentence just blow your mind?