Akim Alius' Swedish teammate on Bill Peters: "Very eccentric"

Bill Peters was fired last week by Calgary Flames after a turbulent week.

The turmoil began with former AIK and Karlskrona player Akim Aliu revealing that Peters, then coach of Alius's then AHL Rockford Icehogs team, used racist words in complaining about the music Aliu played in the dressing room.

"He pointed the n-word at me on several occasions during my rookie year because he didn't like my music choices," Aliu wrote on Twitter.

Then came more testimonies about Peters. Among other things, Czech back Michal Jordan wrote on Twitter that Peters used physical force against him.

"He kicked me and hit other players in the head during the games. Then he pretended nothing had happened, ”he wrote on Twitter.

One of Peter's coaches is Timrås Jonathan Carlsson. He was a teammate with Akim Aliu in Rockford 2009-10.

- He was eccentric but he never crossed the border to me. It's easy to laugh at it now, ten years later. But he was professional towards me and factual - maybe a little bit factual from time to time - but towards me he acted professionally, Carlsson tells SVT Sport, and continues:

- You come across many coaches over the years who are more or less eccentric. But he was maybe more than others.

In what way was he eccentric?

- He had his methods for getting players started and getting them to perform. For me personally, I remember a meeting where he cleared up all the things I was bad at - and it was a very long meeting, haha.

- But that's a bit like that with the training school. But I do not think that is connected with the debate on what is about Akim, there are two different things. Leadership style and major issues should be kept apart. This debate is not about the same thing.

Carlsson lived with Aliu, and was present when the incident that Aliu recently disclosed occurred. He says he was surprised that it was coming up now, but it was clear that Aliu and Peters were not close friends.

"The two of them had a bad relationship, it was very clear to everyone involved," he says, and tells of the highlighted event:

- This with the music was a sequel. Bill had a bad choice of words, but I remember he went out in front of the whole team the day after and apologized. He thought he had behaved badly and apologized to the entire team.

- Then I thought the thing was taken out.

However, Carlsson has felt a certain bad conscience when the whole thing has now become aware.

- The question arises: "Could I have done more if he felt that way?" It is very difficult as a player and teammate when someone feels so bad about things that happen. But it's not so easy to talk about that, says Carlsson, who was 21 at the time of the incident.

- I was just as lost as anyone else at that time. It was my rookie year and I had a lot to take care of myself, if you understand what I mean. You do not understand the larger contexts in the same way when you are 21 years old.

- You might have seen other things now that you've been around for a while. We shall leave this unsaid. But right then, there was nothing I reacted to in that way.

Jonathan Carlsson hopes that everything that has been discovered in recent weeks leads to something good, and believes that there is a big difference now compared to when he came up at the elite level just over a decade ago.

- Society is developing, and I think the jargon on the ice is going in the right direction. It is we who have been for a while may be fan bearers and must make it better when we hand over the sport to the next generation so that they get equally good experiences.

- It will go up and down and back and forth but there are some things that do not belong here. There is a zero tolerance and it should all be very clear.