Carolina Hurricanes re-sign coach Rod Brind'Amour and staff to multi-year deals

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The Carolina Hurricanes have re-signed coach Rod Brind’Amour and his staff to multiyear contracts, keeping one of the best in the NHL behind the bench around for the long term.

The team announced the re-signings Sunday for Brind'Amour, assistants Jeff Daniels and Tim Gleason, goaltending coach Paul Schonfelder and video coach Chris Huffine.

“Rod has been instrumental to the success we’ve had over the last six seasons,” team president and general manager Don Waddell said. “Ever since he joined the organization 24 years ago, Rod has embodied what it means to be a Hurricane. We hope to keep him a Hurricane for life.”

Brind’Amour was in the final year of a deal reached in 2021, when he was the winner of the Jack Adams Award as the league’s top coach. His status had become a talking point around the NHL as jobs changed hands, though Brind’Amour — as well as Waddell — had expressed confidence that a deal would get done.

“I never had a doubt in my mind he (would) come back,” Carolina center Sebastian Aho said earlier in the day when asked about the reports of a deal. “Not surprised, I would say.”

He took over in 2018 to lead a franchise that had missed the playoffs for nine straight years, but the Hurricanes have gone to the playoffs six times in as many seasons under the captain of Carolina’s 2006 Stanley Cup winner. Carolina has also won at least one series in each of the past six postseasons, the first since Detroit did it from 1995-2000, and has twice reached the Eastern Conference Final in that span.

Carolina finished three points behind the New York Rangers for the Metropolitan Division title and Presidents’ Trophy presented to the league’s top regular-season team, another season with ranking among the NHL’s top teams with an aggressive-forechecking style.

The Hurricanes beat the New York Islanders in five games in Round 1, then lost to the Rangers in a six-game second-round series after falling in a 3-0 hole.

Brind’Amour, 53, arrived in Raleigh in a January 2000 trade from Philadelphia and played there until his retirement in 2010. He then spent seven seasons as an assistant coach before taking over as a first-time head coach.

Multiple players were asked earlier Sunday about Brind'Amour's status during end-of-season interviews. None expressed concern that he wouldn't return or that it had been any type of distraction.

“He's one of the main pieces that turned this organization around from where it was when I first got here,” defenseman Jaccob Slavin said. “So I think anyone would want him to stay as well. I know he wants to be here. I’m confident it’ll get done.”

___

Whyno reported from Washington.

___

AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Aaron Beard And Stephen Whyno, The Associated Press