Carolina Hurricanes announced on Tuesday that they are promoting their assistant coach Rod Brind’Amour to be the team’s new head coach. Hurricanes were without a coach since April 20th when Bill Peters decided to opt out of his contract and take over the Calgary Flames. The organization also revealed that the team president Don Waddell will take the role of general manager full-time, after serving as interim GM.
Rod Brind’Amour previously played 10 seasons for the Carolina Hurricanes and captained the team during the 2005-06 season, when the Hurricanes won their first and only Stanley Cup. Brind’Amour retired from professional hockey in 2010, finishing his career with 1,484 career games (23rd in all-time NHL games played) in which he scored 452 goals alongside 732 assists. He stayed with the organization following his retirement as assistant coach and development coach.
“Rod is the greatest leader in the history of this franchise, and has earned the opportunity to take charge of our locker room,” – said Waddell after the announcement. “We spoke to a number of candidates for this position, but our conversations with staff and players consistently returned to the same person.“
“Rod’s fresh ideas, ability to motivate and understanding of what it takes to bring a championship to Raleigh will help our young team take the next step toward competing to bring the Cup back to North Carolina.” – he added.
Carolina Hurricanes finished the 2017-18 with a 36-35-11 record and missed out on the playoffs for the ninth consecutive season.
