Former Canes owner would've fired Peters 'in a nanosecond' if told about abuse

Former Carolina Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos said he would have fired Bill Peters "in a nanosecond" if he'd been made aware of allegations of physical abuse by the head coach, Karmanos told Geoff Baker of The Seattle Times.

Peters, now the head coach of the Calgary Flames, was accused of kicking former Hurricanes defenseman Michal Jordan and punching another player in the head on the bench during his tenure in Carolina. The abuse accusations surfaced after former NHL defenseman Akim Aliu revealed Peters directed racial slurs at him during their time together in the AHL 10 years ago.

On Wednesday, current Carolina coach and former Peters assistant Rod Brind'Amour said the physical abuse "for sure happened."

The Hurricanes' leadership group and other staff members made then-general Ron Francis aware of Peters' actions, but Karmanos said Francis never told him. Karmanos sold the team in 2017, while Peters retained his position until he left for the Flames in April 2018.

"I'm pretty upset," Karmanos said. "And I have my calls in to Ronnie as well. I think he's the one who's going to have to tell people what he did when he found out the coach had done these things."

Francis was let go as Carolina's general manager in April 2018 and was hired for the same position with Seattle's expansion franchise this past July. He has not yet commented on the situation.

"Look, I'm probably upset as anybody could be," Karmanos said. "I take pride in our organizations. I've always taken pride in playing the game the right way and all of that stuff. So I'm fed up."

Peters was not behind the Flames' bench for their contest in Buffalo on Wednesday while the team investigates the allegations.

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