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Division championship earns Canes’ Brind’Amour NHL coach of the year award

Steve Wiseman
·2 min read

Rod Brind’Amour started Thursday with good news and ended it with more.

On the same day he signed a three-year contract extension to remain the Carolina Hurricanes head coach, Brind’Amour won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s coach of the year.

The NHL announced the award winner during Thursday night’s playoff game between the Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Islanders.

“This is a great honor to even be thought of in this category,” Brind’Amour said. “There’s not a coach in this league worth his weight that would say it’s about him. Winning this award is an organizational award, and I’m really proud to be accepting this on behalf of this organization.”

Carolina won the Central Division championship this season, compiling the third-most points in the league (80). It marked the first time the Hurricanes won a division title since the 2005-06 Stanley Cup championship team that Brind’Amour played on.

Earlier this month, the 50-year-old Brind’Amour was named one of three finalists for coach of the year, along with Florida’s Joel Quenneville and Minnesota’s Dean Evason.

Brind’Amour received 61 first-place votes while compiling 433 points in the voting, which was conducted by the NHL Broadcasters Association. Evason was second with 235 points, with 24 first-place votes, while Quenneville was third with 225 points, including 21 first-place votes.

“The athletes that I get to come in contact with every day, from (team captain) Jordan Staal on down,” Brind’Amour said, “we’ve got a great group here and I’m really proud to represent them.“

He’s the first coach in franchise history -- encompassing both the Hartford Whalers and Carolina Hurricanes years --to win the award.

“He’s done a tremendous job,” Carolina general manager Don Waddell said Thursday morning during a Zoom news conference to announce Brind’Amour’s new contract. “We truly believe we are headed in the right direction, so we’re very happy to get Rod signed on a long-term deal and we look forward to the next steps.”