Hurricanes Name Don Waddell as GM and Rod Brind’Amour as Head Coach

[hockeykicker]

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[sandysan]

I wish him well, but I'm afraid that this has " bring in a former fan favorite player to coach" written all over it. His role with the hurricanes for a while ( like 5 or six years) has been assistant coach, correct ? Has he ever had a head coaching gig ?

My guess is that the compete level goes up for physical fear of the head coach.

 

[DaveG]

I'm still holding out hope for Vellucci. Nothing against Rod at all, I'd just prefer to see him get his feet wet at the HC gig in the AHL for a year or so first before really even being considered for this type of position.

 

[chaosrevolver]

Yikes this doesnt seem like the right choice at all. Were there not more qualified internal possibilities?

I always felt Rod only got named an Assistant cause of his impact on the franchise and not because of coaching skills

 

[WeThreeKings]

Nepotism always works.

 

[joestevens29]

Not even sure why he'd want the gig. Didn't he just see all the bad that apparently Ron went through as an ex-Cane? Does he want his name ruined as well?

 

[Chainshot]

Odd to have a coaching hire before the GM is in place.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Thing is, none of us know what capabilities he has as a head coach, because he's never been one. Heck, none of us even know how good of an assistant coach he was, since we don't see the in's and out's of whats going on and the Canes haven't been a talented team no matter who coaches.

I think he's dedicated, intense, knows his x's and o's and will have the respect of the players, but the lack of any head coaching experience makes it a complete unknown.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Odd to have a coaching hire before the GM is in place.

I agree. They said a while back that with Waddell as the acting GM, it wouldn't stop the coaching search process. My guess though is that Waddell will become full time GM (at least during a transition period) in the near future.

 

[TychoFan]

I hope he'll be better than Gretzky! Go Canes!

 

[sandysan]

Thing is, none of us know what capabilities he has as a head coach, because he's never been one. Heck, none of us even know how good of an assistant coach he was, since we don't see the in's and out's of whats going on and the Canes haven't been a talented team no matter who coaches.

I think he's dedicated, intense, knows his x's and o's and will have the respect of the players, but the lack of any head coaching experience makes it a complete unknown.

I guess my concern is the following ( well two concerns). One is that the GM spot is still open, is it not ? The second is, would he have been on anyone else's short list for a HC position, other than the Canes ? My guess is no. This seems like a lazy choice ( and being a fan of a team that is also uber lazy about who they pick to coach) it trades on his legacy with the team which could be sacrificed if things go south. it also makes him a superbly easy scapegoat.

There is no question he is intense, like mike keenan intense ( based on his time as a player, perhaps he's softened but he would need a LOT of softening). How well that plays on a young team in transition in most if not all levels of management/ownership is the real unknown.

 

[Canes]

What a kick in the balls to the fanbase this would be. I'm sure tons of our fans will eat it up because BRINDY CUP WINNER!! But it would be an extremely risky hire for a franchise that needs stability and experience.

Oh well, my fault for letting the subprime used car doofus dupe me.

 

[TheTotalPackage]

Completely awkward hire for the franchise at this time.

But for some reason, I can see Brind'Amour being successful as a coach.

 

[DaveG]

Odd to have a coaching hire before the GM is in place.

No joke, I mean unless they're doing an announcement of Waddell or Dudley here as the GM shortly this makes absolutely no sense.

 

[CaptPantalones]

Interesting hire. Him and waddell seem like a relationship that could work.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Took out the ? in the title, as this is now being reported as a done deal in local media.

Hurricanes assistant, former captain Rod Brind'Amour reaches deal to become next head coach :: WRALSportsFan.com

 

[garnetpalmetto]

I guess my concern is the following ( well two concerns). One is that the GM spot is still open, is it not ? The second is, would he have been on anyone else's short list for a HC position, other than the Canes ? My guess is no. This seems like a lazy choice ( and being a fan of a team that is also uber lazy about who they pick to coach) it trades on his legacy with the team which could be sacrificed if things go south. it also makes him a superbly easy scapegoat.

There is no question he is intense, like mike keenan intense ( based on his time as a player, perhaps he's softened but he would need a LOT of softening). How well that plays on a young team in transition in most if not all levels of management/ownership is the real unknown.

I seem to recall he either got interviews or there was interest from either Pittsburgh before they hired Sullivan or Philly before they hired Hakstol but I don't know how far he got in either process, if at all.

 

[Danko]

good for rod

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Hell with it. If we are going to have an owner that wants to be unconventional and stir shit up, then stir away and see what happens.

Best Case: Rod turns out to be a pretty good coach.
Worst Case: Rod is a horrible coach and we are in line for a top 5 pick again next year.
Probable Case: Coaching is a bit over-rated and the Canes will continue to be a bubble team until they add more talent and fix the goaltending.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Hopefully our biggest issue over the past 9 years was conditioning.

 

[Nizdizzle]

Going to echo the popular sentiment here and say this seems like a bad move. Sure, the upside that Brind'amore is a great coach is there, but with the roster the Canes have right now, I think the best move is to hire a good coach with an established system to kinda shelter the horrible goal-tending.

 

[Svechhammer]

Brindy was never a dumb hockey player. People got bent out of shape about the quality of the Special Teams the past couple years, but he was being asked to make chicken salad out of chicken ****. I think its telling that he was able to stick around despite the cleansing of the old regime here in Raleigh. Clearly, Waddell, Dudley, and Dundon have a ton of faith in him.

Also expecting Waddell to have the interim tag removed in the near future. Just makes sense at this point.

 

[Unsustainable]

Hopefully our biggest issue over the past 9 years was conditioning.

Dudley is still a beast

 

[glovesave_35]

Odd to have a coaching hire before the GM is in place.

Probably says something about the quality of GM they plan to hire after Waddell's interim bit is over.

Tough luck Canes fans. I'm seeing a lot of you guys defend the new owner. Hopefully it all works out for you guys. As a fanbase you guys are my favorite "non-traditional market" crowd after my Stars.

 

[sandysan]

Hell with it. If we are going to have an owner that wants to be unconventional and stir **** up, then stir away and see what happens.

Best Case: Rod turns out to be a pretty good coach.
Worst Case: Rod is a horrible coach and we are in line for a top 5 pick again next year.
Probable Case: Coaching is a bit over-rated and the Canes will continue to be a bubble team until they add more talent and fix the goaltending.

yeah you might fire rod in the middle of the game and force him to take a cab home from the rink. I think the days of " throw stuff against the wall and see what sticks" as a viable organizational strategy are pretty much done.

then again my team thought that a winger could somehow magically fill a hole at 1C. So good luck with that.