The Hurricanes coach joined co-hosts Dan Rosen and Shawn P. Roarke on the "NHL @TheRink" podcast this week to discuss the season. Carolina (21-7-3), which plays at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, FS-O, FS-CR, NHL.TV), is second in the Discover Central Division with one game in hand on the first-place Tampa Bay Lightning (24-6-2) and third-place Florida Panthers (20-8-4).
"You always, first of all, think you can be better, which you can," Brind'Amour said. "I'm always one of those guys that doesn't like to make a lot of changes. I guess it's easy to say that, we're doing pretty well. I mean, why would you change something? But there are areas we need to get better at for sure.
"It always comes down to I think in every team your health. If we're healthy going into the playoffs, hopefully we're there when that time comes, I wouldn't say we needed anything. But if you're not, then what? It'll be interesting to see what goes on. I'm happy with my group, so if we do nothing, I'm happy and if we're doing something than that means we're probably getting better, so that would be good too."
Brind'Amour said he's curious how good the Hurricanes can be with everybody healthy. They're without forwards Vincent Trocheck (upper body, missed six games) and Teuvo Teravainen (concussion, missed eight games), and goalie Petr Mrazek (right thumb surgery, missed 26 games).
Though Brind'Amour said Mrazek and Trocheck are skating with the Hurricanes, he couldn't give a timeline on when they could play. Teravainen is not yet skating with teammates.
"I'd like to see us for a good stretch with everybody to really feel how good we can be because I just really don't know," Brind'Amour said. "We've played fairly well without those guys but they're huge parts of what we're all about. Hopefully we can get them back and get a feel for what we're all about."
Rosen and Roarke talked about the upcoming trade deadline as it relates to various teams, including the Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Colorado Avalanche.
The co-hosts also discussed the struggles of the Buffalo Sabres and Calgary Flames, and the changes made to the NHL Draft Lottery, including reducing the number of drawings from three to two to give the team that finishes last a better chance of getting the No. 1 pick.
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