Rod Brind’Amour will return behind the bench as head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes next season, according to TSN’s Darren Dreger.
Brind’Amour’s current contract was set to expire on July 1, and there has been a lot of speculation about his future in recent weeks given the number of vacancies in the league. Earlier this month, Hurricanes president and general manager Don Waddell attempted to put a stop to those rumors by stating that the organization had every intention of extending his head coaching contract.
“We’re going to get it done,” Waddell told The Athletic on May 1 when asked about Brind’Amour’s contract status. “I’m not worried about that. “He wants to be a hurricane for life.”
Carolina Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour has agreed to a multi-year contract extension, according to @DarrenDreger.
MORE: https://t.co/TGoySLrUCd pic.twitter.com/wWEkQhuNqg
-TSN (@TSN_Sports) May 19, 2024
According to Dreger, Brind’Amour assistant coaches Jeff Daniels and Tim Gleason also received contract extensions.
Brind’Amour, 53, has led the Hurricanes to the playoffs in each of his six seasons as head coach. Since he took over before the 2018-19 season, Carolina has posted a 278-130-44 record in 452 regular-season games. In that window, the Hurricanes posted a .664 points percentage, which ranks second in the NHL behind only the Boston Bruins (.695).
Carolina has also recorded three consecutive 50-win seasons under Brind’Amour, the first time they have accomplished that feat in franchise history.
The Hurricanes have managed to win at least one playoff round in five of Brind’Amour’s six seasons as head coach. However, despite being an elite team in the regular season, they have yet to win a single game in the conference finals, posting a 0-8 record under Brind’Amour in the third round of the postseason.
Brind’Amour captured the Jack Adams Trophy as the league’s top head coach in 2020-21, after the Hurricanes captured the Central Division title during the COVID-shortened 56-game campaign.
As a player, Brind’Amour helped captain the Hurricanes to their only Stanley Cup championship in franchise history in 2005-06. In 1,484 career games, he accumulated 452 goals and 1,184 points and captured a pair of Selke Trophies as the league’s best defensive forward.
With Brind’Amour returning to Carolina and Craig Berube landing in Toronto on Friday night, there are now four head coaching vacancies in the NHL: New Jersey, Winnipeg, San Jose and Seattle. The Los Angeles Kings still have Jim Hiller as their interim head coach.
Required reading
• What went wrong with the hurricanes? A familiar ending leads to a summer of uncertainty
• NHL coaches’ job security levels: Who could be next to move?
(Photo: Josh Lavallee/NHLI via /Keynote USA/Getty Images)
Keynote USA
For the Latest Sports News, Follow @Keynote USA Sports on Twitter.