After helping nearly two dozen players reach the National Hockey League over the past two seasons, Tom Rowe is making the jump himself.

Head coach-GM of the Albany River Rats since 2006, Rowe, 51, was promoted to assistant coach of the parent Carolina Hurricanes on Monday.

Rowe will work with ’Canes head coach Peter Laviolette and assistants Kevin McCarthy and Tom Barrasso. It will be Rowe’s first

major-league coaching exper­ience.

“It was kind of in the works for the last five weeks or so,” Rowe said Monday. “I had talked to [Carolina GM] Jimmy [Rutherford], and he wanted to know if I was interested in coming up. Obviously, I was.

“It just went from there. It’s probably the right move at the right time for me, and hopefully, it will work out. I’m sure it will.”

In Albany, Rowe will be replaced by Jeff Daniels, a Carolina assistant the past four seasons. It is the first head coaching job for Daniels, who turns 40 June 24. Former Rats captain and defenseman Geordie Kinnear will remain as Daniels’ assistant.

“It’s exciting. It’s a great opportunity that I’ve been given here,” Daniels said. “I’m looking forward to the responsibility, and all the hard work that goes along with it.

“I’ll be able to get my feet wet as a head coach and GM in the

second-best league around in Albany, working with the young kids and hopefully, get them to realize their potential and get to the NHL.”

Under Rowe, the Rats were

80-66-7-7, and qualified for the playoffs each of the past two seasons, ending the franchise’s AHL-record six-year postseason drought. They were eliminated in the first round by Hershey in 2007 and Philadelphia this spring.

A club-record 61 players saw

action last season for Albany, both due to injuries and the recall of key contributors such as Keith Aucoin, Ryan Bayda, Michael Leighton, Casey Borer, Tim Conboy, Wade Brookbank, Joey Mormina, Brandon Nolan, Pat Dwyer and Joe Jensen.

Still, the Rats finished 43-30-3-4, and battled for the East Division title into the penultimate weekend of the regular season, eventually finishing third.

“He took our team last year, with all the personnel changes and things going on, and we didn’t miss a beat,” Kinnear said. “We actually got stronger as those changes happened, which speaks volumes for him.

“He never let the guys feel sorry for themselves or let adversity get in the way. He’s a true leader. His promotion is very well-

deserved.”

The work of Rowe and Kinnear in providing game-ready players was instrumental in allowing Carolina to stay in the playoff hunt to the end of last season. The ’Canes ultimately missed out for the second straight year.

Rowe, the first American-born player to score 30 goals in an NHL season, played 352 NHL games. He was 156-130-14-20 in 320 AHL games as a coach.

“Jim liked the way we played last year, and wanted to bring me up to get some new ideas,” Rowe said. “That was basically the reason for the change. I’m going to give some input and support Peter and Kevin, and try to get them back to the playoffs.

“I think it’s the natural next step for me to take. I think the timing is right. It should be a lot of fun. I’m real excited about it, and looking forward to it.”

Rowe and Daniels spoke at length last week about the Rats, and Daniels also talked with Kinnear on Monday.

He is the sixth man to coach the Rats, following Robbie Ftorek (1993-96, 2004-06), John Cunniff (1996-2001), Bobby Carpenter (2001-02), Dennis “Red” Gendron (2002-04) and Rowe — all native New Englanders. Daniels was born in Oshawa, Ontario.

Daniels skated in 425 games with four NHL teams, including Car­olina, retiring in 2003. He won the Stanley Cup as a coach with Carolina and a player with Pittsburgh in 1992.