Bill Peters Assistant Coach

Peters is entering his second season as an assistant coach with the Red Wings. In his first season in the Motor City, Peters worked primarily with the team’s defensemen and penalty kill units. He joined the coaching staff following three seasons behind the bench of the Rockford IceHogs, the American Hockey League affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks. During his three-year tenure in Rockford, Peters compiled a 122-97-7-14 record and led the IceHogs to back-to-back 40-win seasons and consecutive Calder Cup playoff appearances in 2008-09 and 2009-10. Peters directed the second-youngest team in the AHL to a 38-33-4-5 record in 2010-11. During his time in Rockford, he helped 28 players ascend to the NHL ranks, including three members of the 2010 Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks – goalie Antti Niemi, and defensemen Niklas Hjalmarsson and Jordan Hendry.

Prior to his tenure with the IceHogs, Peters enjoyed tremendous success as a head coach at the junior level. He led the Spokane Chiefs of the Western Hockey League to a franchise record 50 wins and 107 points in 2008, and guided the Chiefs to the 2008 Memorial Cup title as champions of the Canadian Hockey League. The Chiefs defeated the Kitchener Rangers 4-1 in the championship game. In three seasons as the head coach in Spokane, Peters compiled a 111-82-10-23 record. He also served as an assistant with the Chiefs twice under current Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock, first as a midseason replacement in 1996-97 and then returning to the same position in 1999-00. Babcock and Peters led the Spokane franchise to a 47-win/100-point campaign that season, along with the WHL’s Western Conference championship.

Peters, 47, served as the head coach of the University of Lethbridge for three campaigns from 2002-05. He guided the Proghorns to one postseason appearance in his three seasons behind the bench before returning to Spokane as head coach of the Chiefs for the 2005-06 season. The Three Hills, Alberta, native also has impressive international credentials, having served as the head coach of Team Canada, which defeated Russia, 6-3, in the gold medal game at the 2008 U-18 Junior World Cup.

Peters and his wife, Denise, have two children, Aleze and Ayden.