The hiring of controversial former NHL coach Bill Peters by Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg appears to already be causing a stir. According to a report by Barstool Sports, the team's leading scorer, Nigel Dawes, has decided not to renew his contract with the team because of Peters' hiring.

Dawes, a 35-year-old Canadian born player of Jamaican decent, played for a few years in the NHL before heading to Russia. While he was never able to make much of an impact in North America, he became an absolute stud in the KHL scoring 50+ points (his best was 69) in each of the last six seasons. With 461 points, Dawes is the fifth highest all-time scorer in the KHL. He is first among players not born in Russia.

According to "Rear Admiral" (real name Brian McGonagle), who is a co-host with Spittin Chiclets, as soon as Dawes heard that Peters would be joining Avtomobilist he made the decision to not renew his two-year contract which expires in two weeks.

Peters was essentially forced to resign as head coach of the Calgary Flames last November after accusations of racism from Akim Aliu, who played under Peters 10 years ago with the AHL's Rockford IceHogs.

“He walked in before a morning pre-game skate and said ‘Hey Akim, I'm sick of you playing that n----- s---,' ” Aliu told TSN, with Peters, who was then the Ice Hogs head coach, referring to Aliu's selection of hip-hop music. “He said ‘I'm sick of hearing this n-----s f------ other n-----s in the ass stuff.'

There were also accusations of physical abuse from former NHLer Michal Jordan, who accused Peters of kicking him on the bench while he was a member of the Carolina Hurricanes and punching another unnamed player. The story was later corroborated by Rod Brind'Amour, now Hurricanes head coach and an assistant at the time of those incidents.

Peters was reportedly hired by the KHL team on the recommendation of Pavel Datsyuk, who also plays for Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg.

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