- Tom Dundon says Rod Brind’Amour can coach the Hurricanes as long as he wants
- The owner dropped the “contract for life” line at Carolina’s Cup parade in Raleigh
- Read below for Dundon’s full quote and what it means for the Canes bench
Rod Brind’Amour isn’t leaving Carolina anytime soon.
Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon settled that question Saturday at the team’s Stanley Cup parade in Raleigh. A reporter suggested Brind’Amour had earned the right to coach the Canes for as long as he wanted, and Dundon agreed without blinking.
Asked if his coach essentially had a job for life, Dundon traced it back to the day he took over the franchise. “Rod was always gonna be the coach,” Dundon said. “Since I hired him, he’s always gonna be the coach as long as he’d want to be.”
Here’s Dundon on his coach’s future:
The owner also explained why the partnership works. He pointed straight at how much Brind’Amour cares. “The reason he’s so good at it is because he cares so much,” Dundon said.
Brind’Amour just won his first Cup as a head coach, 20 years after he captained Carolina to its first title in 2006. The Canes knocked off Vegas in six games to bring the trophy back to Raleigh for the second time ever.
Carolina had waited two decades for another one:
Brind’Amour took over the bench in 2018 and built one of the steadiest teams in hockey. He owns a Jack Adams Award and reached the playoffs in every one of his seasons in charge. The Cup was the last box left to check.
Saturday was Raleigh’s first title parade in nearly 20 years, and Brind’Amour soaked it in with his shirt off:
Dundon made the rest of it official in one sentence. The man who built this team gets to walk away on his own terms.
