Report: Hurricanes begin extension talks with Rod Brind'Amour

Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour is one of a handful of head coaches around the NHL who are in the final year of their respective contracts.  Carolina has certainly shown considerable improvement under his watch over his two-plus seasons there, and not surprisingly, they have started talks regarding an extension, as Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reported in a recent Insider Trading segment.

Given how strong the Hurricanes have been — they’re 96-58-13 since Brind’Amour was promoted to the position back in 2018 — the 50-year-old is well-positioned to land a sizable raise.  Many recent deals handed out to proven head coaches have been in the $3M to $5M range. However, to be fair, a lot of those came before the pandemic, and the economic environment is much different now.

Having said that, the Hurricanes have been a bit stingy when it comes to their off-ice personnel, instead opting to concentrate their financial resources on its on-ice talent, a strategy that has worked so far.  But there are undoubtedly teams keeping tabs on this situation, LeBrun notes, and if Brind’Amour was to make it to the open market, he would get interest from elsewhere.  In his LeBrun's latest column for The Athletic, Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon expressed confidence that an extension will get done and Brind’Amour in the past has said that he wants to coach only in Carolina.  Until that deal gets done, he remains their most intriguing pending free agent.