Brind'Amour 'going to demand more' as coach of Hurricanes

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Rod Brind'Amour's first move as coach of the Carolina Hurricanes will be to raise expectations for a team that hasn't made the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 2009.
"For me, it starts with the standards," Brind'Amour said Wednesday, one day after being promoted following seven seasons as an assistant. "The bar has been set too low. When the bar is set low, it's human nature that everyone goes to the bar. You have a few overachievers, but if the bar is just making the playoffs, guess what happens? You finish ninth or 10th. Everyone is kind of doing what you ask. I think we have the people in here who will accept that, and will want that."

Owner Tom Dundon spoke at the end of the regular season about his desire to find better players, but Brind'Amour, who was captain of Carolina's Stanley Cup-winning team in 2006, said he believes he can get more out of some underperforming players on the roster.
"I think we have a lot of guys in that room who can give more," he said. "There's more there. There's great personalities, great talent, great character. If we can get a little more out of every guy, we don't have to make any changes. I know we're going to and we're going to keep trying to get better, but we're going to demand more from our players."

Brind'Amour played 20 seasons in the NHL but initially had little interest in coaching. He spent the past four seasons honing his skills under Bill Peters, who opted out of his contract April 20 and was hired as coach of the Calgary Flames three days later. Brind'Amour credits his time under Peters for rounding out his coaching experience.
"He was great, and I think we were prepared as well as we could have been," Brind'Amour said. "But we're from totally opposite spectrums. You see basically two types of coaches: those who played and those guys who didn't play. They work as hard or harder than the guys who played. They study the craft and teach the craft. I feel like I've been in an apprenticeship the last four years, looking at the game totally different."
The two-time winner of the Selke Trophy (2006, 2007) as the NHL's best defensive forward will rely heavily on his two decades as a player.
"The one thing that's going to help me is you can't fool me," Brind'Amour said. "If you go in the shot lane and you kind of get out of the way, I notice that. I think that will get through to the team pretty quick. They want to know the guy that's lining up beside them will get in that lane for them and make that sacrifice. That's where I think I have an advantage, because that's the kind of stuff that I see because I've been there."

Brind'Amour told The News & Observer he has someone in mind to be captain of the Hurricanes but will talk to the players before naming him. Carolina this season had forward Jordan Staal and defenseman Justin Faulk as co-captains, after Staal, Faulk, forward Jeff Skinner and forward Victor Rask were alternate captains last season.
Dundon, who became principal owner of the Hurricanes on Jan. 11, said other people were under consideration for the coaching position, but his first few months as owner convinced him Brind'Amour was uniquely qualified.
"He's probably the best asset we had when we got here," Dundon said. "We talked to other people, and it would be hard for me to interview somebody I hadn't been around. It was going to be difficult for anyone to impress me the way Rod has. I haven't been this impressed by many people in my life. I think we're really, really lucky."