Bill Peters: Next Penguins coach?

The Pittsburgh Penguins have finished all their interviews, per general manager Jim Rutherford, and is Detroit Red Wings assistant coach Bill Peters going to be the man? Whispers are starting to point in that direction.

We saw on The Pensblog that Josh Rimer thinks so:

I honestly believe the next Penguins coach will be Red wings assistant coach Bill Peters.

— Josh Rimer (@JoshRimerHockey) June 19, 2014

And, on the twitters, @Hope_Smoke had transcribed Doug MacLean talking with Nick Kypreos in the radio in Canada. MacLean confirmed that he met with Rutherford last week to talk about the Penguins' head coaching job, but that he wasn't a finalist. As a friend of Rutherford's, they talked about systems, strategies and working with stars.

MacLean "I know for a fact that Pitt is hiring somebody and they've already made their mind up"

— Hope_Smoke (@Hope_Smoke) June 19, 2014

MacLean "it's somebody that had experience in the league last year."

— Hope_Smoke (@Hope_Smoke) June 19, 2014

MacLean "that would indicate to me that it is an assistant coach and it would knock Crawford & R.Wilson out of the box there [Pitt]"

— Hope_Smoke (@Hope_Smoke) June 19, 2014

MacLean wouldn't confirm/deny any specific name, but along the lines of what Rimer speculated, Bill Peters (a current NHL assistant coach) would fit the bill for the type of person MacLean outlined. Ulf Samuelsson, current NY Rangers assistant, would also meet that clarification, but the rumor on the street seems to be that the Carolina Hurricanes are hot on Samuelsson's heels (with their GM Ron Francis obviously very familiar with Ulf) so we'll see if that is the direction that he ends up going.

As for Peters, 47, his resume is reasonably impressive: he's been on Detroit's staff for the past three years as an NHL assistant coach. Before that, he was a head coach in the AHL for 3 years with the Rockford IceHogs. Before that, he was a head coach in the WHL for 3 years for the Spokane Chiefs, winning the championship in 2007-08. He has no NHL head coaching experience.

We'll see which way the Pens decide to go, a decision on who the next head coach seems to be coming soon, perhaps as early as tomorrow.