Report: Delay in Rod Brind'Amour extension tied to assistant coaches' contracts

Now that the Carolina Hurricanes have been eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs, all eyes are on head coach Rod Brind’Amour. The likely 2021 Jack Adams finalist is without a contract for next season, and though there have been reports over the last few months that negotiations were close, nothing has been officially announced.

Previously, it came up that Brind’Amour was focused on securing contract extensions for his entire coaching staff as well as his own. Wednesday, Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic tweeted that there is still work to be done on those assistants’ contracts and that it is “important” to Brind’Amour that they get them.

That’s not to say things won’t get worked out between the Hurricanes and their franchise icon. Not only was Brind’Amour the captain when the team hoisted its only Stanley Cup in 2006, but he’s also been one of the most successful coaches in the NHL since he took the reins in 2018, winning 120 of his 206 regular-season games. Brind’Amour is beloved by the fan base, and it would be lunacy for the organization to let him go, unless the contract demands are completely unreasonable.

The Hurricanes may have been defeated in the second round, going quietly against the Tampa Bay Lightning, but it’s hard to really critique what they’ve done to this point. The team is full of young stars who are just starting to realize their potential, and the coaching/management group has done a great job maximizing resources to this point. Until it is done, anything can happen, but it seems very likely that Brind’Amour — and his full staff — will return.