Brind'Amour relishing chance to guide Hurricanes to Stanley Cup

RALEIGH, N.C. -- It's evident in Rod Brind'Amour's postgame speeches the Carolina Hurricanes post on their social media following each win.

Mixed between the goal horns that mute his expletives is the authentic affection Brind'Amour feels for the players he coaches.

"You know it takes everybody and everybody contributing the whole way," Brind'Amour told them after the Hurricanes completed a sweep of the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference Second Round on May 9. 
"And I just love you guys for that."

The Hurricanes players say what you see in those videos is essentially who Brind'Amour is as a coach. 

"It's not far off," Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal said. "I think he's probably holding back a little sometimes. We hear a little bit more detail sometimes in our meetings, but for the most part he's pretty genuine. That's just who he is."

The eight-year anniversary of Brind'Amour being named the Hurricanes coach passed quietly on May 8, the day before their 3-2 overtime victory in Game 4 against the Flyers sent them onto the Eastern Conference Final for the fourth time during his tenure (also 2019, 2023, 2025). It's been a long wait since then to find out if they'll play the Montreal Canadiens or Buffalo Sabres and whether that best-of-7 series will start Tuesday or Thursday.

Carolina lost each of its previous three trips to the conference final under Brind'Amour, so it knows from experience the challenge ahead. But taking that next step and winning the Stanley Cup after that would only further cement Brind'Amour's legacy with the Hurricanes, which already includes captaining them to their first Stanley Cup championship in 2006.

The 55-year-old has been part of the fabric of the Hurricanes since the trade that brought him here from the Philadelphia Flyers on Jan. 23, 2000. He retired in 2010 after playing 10 seasons in Carolina, but never left, initially working in player development before becoming an assistant for seven seasons and being promoted to head coach in 2018.

"It's just very, very special to me, and it's home," Brind'Amour said. "I've said it many times, it's very unique to be a coach in this league and do it where you live, and I'm proud of that. I don't just wear this hat and take it off and wear someone else's the next day. That's just not what it is. 

"It means a little more to me because I've been here for so long and we have the roots and the history."

Brind'Amour has been part of 94 of the Hurricanes' 96 Stanley Cup Playoff wins since the franchise moved to Carolina from Hartford in 1997 -- 39 as a player and 55 as their coach. The Hurricanes have qualified for the playoffs and won at least one series in each of his eight seasons. They qualified for the postseason only five times before that, including not at all in the nine seasons prior to him becoming head coach. 

While some coaches in other markets reach their expiration date after two or three seasons, Brind'Amour's impact with Carolina has yet to fade. The Hurricanes went 53-22-7 this season to finish first in their division for the fourth time under him.

He already holds the Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers coaching record for playoff wins (55-42) and, with a 378-182-56 record in 616 games, is only six behind Paul Maurice (384-391-46 with 99 ties in 920 games) for most regular-season wins.

The only NHL coaches with longer tenures with their current teams are Jon Cooper, who just completed his 14th season with the Tampa Bay Lightning, and Jared Bednar, who is in his 10th season with the Colorado Avalanche.

"Nobody understands or embodies the essence of that franchise, the identity of it when it's at its best better than him," said former Hurricanes goalie and current ESPN analyst Kevin Weekes, who was Brind'Amour's teammate for parts of three seasons in Carolina (2001-04). "It's really amazing, and it's earned. He never takes anything for granted. 

"He doesn't take the role for granted."

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Brind'Amour has often downplayed his role in Carolina's success. During his first playoff series as coach, in the 2019 Eastern Conference First Round against the Washington Capitals, he remarked, "The coaching thing is fun, but I always say it's a little overrated. Your players play."

A hard-nosed center who played 1,484 games during 20 seasons in the NHL with the St. Louis Blues, Flyers and Hurricanes, Brind'Amour has never lost that appreciation for the players. It's one of the things that makes him so relatable.

"It's so easy to play for a guy who has done it," defenseman Sean Walker said. "He was a player. He gets it. He's a champion. He's won.  Every day, he has an amazing speech that makes you want to run through a brick wall. He's awesome. Everyone will tell you that."

Staal, a center who played for six seasons for the Pittsburgh Penguins before being traded to Carolina in 2012, remembers well what it was like to play against Brind'Amour. 

"Pretty much the way he coaches -- intense and hardworking, and not willing to give you an inch," Staal said. "And he's exactly that in every other aspect of his life."

Brind'Amour has a way of making it clear, though, that he's in the battle with his players -– not against them. 

"He's invested," forward Jordan Martinook said. "As much as we're invested in the game, he's right there with us. He was a player, so he knows that, and you see the fire."

The word mentioned most often about Brind'Amour is "genuine." There's no need to read between the lines with him.

"I've always loved and respected Roddy because he's real," said Weekes, who, along with Brind'Amour, helped the Hurricanes reach the 2002 Stanley Cup Final. "For some people, it's about the sizzle, it's about this, it's about that. For him, it's about the steak. It's authentic. In everything he says, there's an authenticity, it's real. There's no playing a role. There isn't jargon.

"He's just a real guy that does real things and treats people really well."

That has helped establish a culture of respect within the locker room that complements the technical and systems work that Brind'Amour and his staff do. The relationships that stem from that respect help Brind'Amour get complete buy-in from seemingly every player who joins the Hurricanes.

"He is very, very good at having every player want to succeed for him and want to help him succeed, and he wants to help them succeed," Hurricanes general manager Eric Tulsky said. "Every player in the League wants more ice time, wants more opportunity, and we have such a deep team that it's especially challenging for him. 

"There are a lot of players on our team who could be playing bigger roles somewhere else, and he does a really good job of managing it and getting people comfortable with playing the role that they're being asked to play on this team and doing it the best they can."

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The Hurricanes have had some turnover during Brind'Amour's time as coach, but he hasn't been the lone constant. Staal, Martinook, along with forwards Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov and defenseman Jaccob Slavin, are among five players who remain from the Carolina team that upset Washington, defending Cup champions at the time, in seven games in the first round to begin a run to the 2019 Eastern Conference Final. 

They have 11 players who will be in their third conference final with the Hurricanes and 19 who were part of the team that lost to the Florida Panthers in five games in the conference final last season.

"I've had some of these guys for a really long time and watching them come as kids and they change, become fathers, grow as people and as players," said Brind'Amour, who won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL's coach of the year in 2020-21. "But it's the human side. That is what is special about this job for me. It's nice to get them when they are young and mold them a little bit, but it's really the guys in the room that are doing that."

On some teams, the coach's message can grow stale over time. Brind'Amour has avoided that so far, but he acknowledged, "that's probably the toughest thing" about coaching one team for so long.

"We don't deviate too much from the message," he said. "I think that's actually the trick, too. If you believe in what you're throwing out there, then it's pretty easy. At this time of year, it's easy. I think during the regular season it's tough. That's where it gets hard."

The Hurricanes know they still have a lot of work to do. After becoming the first team to start 8-0 in a postseason since the NHL switched the best-of-7 format for all four rounds of its playoffs in 1987, they need eight more victories to win the Stanley Cup, which is the only thing missing from Brind'Amour's coaching resume.

Carolina's players want to do that as much for him as they do for themselves.

"When he took over, he pretty much set the standard for the organization and ever since, we have been trying to reach our ultimate goal." Aho said. "Obviously, we haven't been able to do that, but everyone is working as hard as they can. He is our leader and you can see the work he puts in for us to succeed and as a player you appreciate that."

NHL.com senior director of editorial Shawn P. Roarke contributed to this report