Raleigh, NC -- (Sports Network) - The Carolina Hurricanes have made a coaching change, replacing Peter Laviolette with his predecessor, Paul Maurice.

Maurice will return to the job he held for seven full seasons and parts of two others before Laviolette took over 30 games into the 2003-04 campaign.

In addition, Ron Francis has been named an associate coach.

"This is a real strong addition with Paul and Ronnie leading our coaching staff," said Hurricanes president and general manager Jim Rutherford. "As we go into a very tough group of games in December, my hope is that the coaches make minor adjustments to the system and the players regain their confidence."

Carolina has lost four of its last five games to fall to 12-11-2 for the season -- good enough for second place in the Southeast Division. The Hurricanes, despite a pair of winning records, have failed to reach the playoffs each of the last two seasons after winning the Stanley Cup under Laviolette's watch in the spring of 2006.

"We would like to thank Peter for his years of service to the Hurricanes organization, and we wish him and his family the best moving forward," added Rutherford.

Laviolette was in his fifth season with the Hurricanes and had a record of 167-126-30. Before his stint with the 'Canes, Laviolette was the head coach of the New York Islanders for two seasons from 2001-02 through 2002-03, and earlier this year became the winningest American-born head coach in NHL history.

Maurice had a mark of 268-291-115 with the Carolina franchise. He first became the head coach 12 games into the 1995-96 season when the club was located in Hartford.

After his run with the Hurricanes, Maurice went to Toronto and was the head coach at the club's AHL affiliate before taking over as Maple Leafs head coach for the 2006-07 season. In two years with the Leafs, he posted a mark of 76-66-22, but the team failed to reach the playoffs both years.