Carolina Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour is currently just two wins away from the Stanley Cup title. This would mark a Carolina win after a long wait of 20 years. He gave his take on building a winning roster in the NHL in an exclusive interview recently.

Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman alluded to players talking about how Brind’Amour believes in them upon arriving in Carolina. In response, the 55-year-old spoke about his vision for the Hurricanes and building a winning roster. Brind’Amour elaborated on this per an X post from Sportsnet on Friday, June 11.

“When [I] took this job, I had a vision. I did have a vision of like ‘why can’t [Carolina] be the best place to play hockey?’ You have a building that’s rocking every night, and I’m like, okay. And then you actually have a chance to win every year. We’ve done a good job of kind of weeding out guys that don’t quite fit here.”

Brind’Amour, who has been a head coach for the last eight years, gave an example of Taylor Hall. He stated that the experienced winger understood his workings best after joining in January 2025.

“He [Taylor Hall] said something to the fact that ‘you know we come to work every day, with a smile on our face. We know it’s hard, but we’re good with it. We appreciate that.’ And that’s the kind of guy that we want around here."

Ahead of Game 5 in the 2026 Stanley Cup Final, the Hurricanes are tied 2-2 against the Vegas Golden Knights.

Earlier in the same interview, Brind’Amour talked about why people say he is good at coaching after joining the Hurricanes.

The Ontario native stated he’s got “great people” with him at the franchise, including the players and staff. He has done a commendable job for the Hurricanes, and the stats reflect this.

From Drought to Contention: How Brind'Amour Transformed the Hurricanes

Since becoming the head coach for the Hurricanes in May 2018, Brind’Amour has secured a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs eight seasons in a row. Before that, the Canes had missed out on the playoffs for nine straight seasons in the NHL.

Despite being the fastest to 300 wins in the NHL in just 488 games, Brind’Amour wasn’t able to take Carolina to the Stanley Cup Final until this year.

He stands on the cusp of joining a list of individuals to win the Stanley Cup Final as player and coach with the same franchise.

In 2006, he captained the Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup title after beating the Edmonton Oilers in Game 7.

During the ongoing playoffs, Brind’Amour registered the all-time NHL record of 12-1 with Carolina on their way to winning the conference title. This beat their previous record of two losses to the Edmonton Oilers and the Los Angeles Kings in 1988 and 2012, respectively.

Will Rod Brind’Amour be able to secure the second Stanley Cup title with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2026? Tell us your prediction in the comments.

Read more at NHL Fan Central!

Written by

Arjun Sharma

Edited by

Surjo Ray