Carolina Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour has signed a three-year contract extension with the team, general manager Don Waddell announced on Thursday.
“I thought we were on the same page,” Brind’Amour said. “It was just a matter of time, really. He knew I wanted to be a part of this, and I knew he wanted me to be a part of it, too. So we figured it out.”
Brind’Amour finished the last year of his contract with the team this season. The Hurricanes were first in the Central Division and were eliminated in the second round by the Tampa Bay Lightning. Brind’Amour is a finalist for the Jack Adams Award for coach of the year.
He has gone 120-66-20 in three seasons with Carolina and reached the playoffs in all three seasons.
With his contract up, there was heavy speculation that Brind’Amour could leave the franchise, where he spent 10 years of his 20-year NHL career as a player, winning the Stanley Cup as Hurricanes captain in 2006. The New York Rangers and the expansion Seattle Kraken — where Brind’Amour’s former teammate Ron Francis is the general manager — had high-profile openings.
When the Rangers announced they had hired Gerard Gallant as their next head coach on Wednesday, it was seen by many around the NHL as a signal that Brind’Amour was off the market.
But Brind’Amour said the delay in re-signing with the Hurricanes was because he wanted to ensure his coaching and support staff would all return with him. Plus, he felt he could have the most success by staying in Raleigh rather than leaving for another team.
“There’s always temptation to listen to the outside noise. But I have a hard time thinking I could do the same job I do here somewhere else. This place is a part of me. I’ve been here forever. Again, it’s about the people I get to come to work with every day. That’s not going to be the case in other places,” he said.
Brind’Amour cited his relationship with Waddell and owner Tom Dundon as another reason he decided to re-sign, saying he has a lot of input into player personnel decisions that he might not have elsewhere.
“Finances and money are a part of it. But I feel like I’m the richest person because I have a relationship with my owner and GM that I don’t think many other coaches have,” he said.