Hurricanes name Rod Brind’Amour head coach, Don Waddell general manager

The captain who led the Carolina Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup twelve years ago has a new assignment: get them back there.

The Hurricanes have named Rod Brind’Amour the team’s head coach, and also removed the interim tag from Don Waddell, making him the team’s permanent general manager.

The 47-year-old Brind’Amour, who retired following the 2009-10 season, has served as an assistant coach under both Kirk Muller and Bill Peters for the past seven seasons. Upon his retirement, he served as the team’s director of forwards development as well before transitioning to a full-time assistant coach in 2012.

Brind’Amour will replace his former boss, Peters, who left the Canes on April 20 and has since been hired as the Calgary Flames’ head coach.

Waddell had been serving as interim GM since the reassignment of Ron Francis on March 7. Francis subsequently left the organization last week.

In recent years, Brind’Amour has been responsible for the Hurricanes’ power play, which has consistently ranked in the bottom half of the league standings for the past two seasons. During his playing career, Brind’Amour, who won the 2006 Selke Trophy as the league’s best defensive forward, was known as an ace penalty killer, and the Canes’ kill was his responsibility under Muller when it was largely a top-ranked unit.

There has been no mention of the job status of assistant coach Steve Smith or goaltending coach Mike Bales as of yet.

A press conference officially introducing Brind’Amour and Waddell will be held tomorrow.

The release from the team is below.

HURRICANES NAME ROD BRIND’AMOUR AS HEAD COACH

Former captain is 14^th person to serve as head coach in franchise history

The Carolina Hurricanes today announced that the team has named Rod Brind’Amour as its head coach. The team also announced that Don Waddell will officially serve as president and general manager.

“Rod is the greatest leader in the history of this franchise, and has earned the opportunity to take charge of our locker room,” said Waddell. “We spoke to a number of candidates for this position, but our conversations with staff and players consistently returned to the same person. Rod’s fresh ideas, ability to motivate and understanding of what it takes to bring a championship to Raleigh will help our young team take the next step toward competing to bring the Cup back to North Carolina.”

Brind’Amour, 47, is the 14^th person to serve as head coach in franchise history, and the fifth since the team’s arrival in North Carolina in 1997. Born in Ottawa, but raised in Campbell River, B.C., he has served as the Hurricanes’ assistant coach for the past seven seasons, after working for the team in player development roles from 2010-2012.

Brind’Amour officially retired as a player on June 30, 2010, following a career of more than 20 NHL seasons. Drafted by the St. Louis Blues in the first round of the 1988 NHL Entry Draft, Brind’Amour completed his career ranked 16th in NHL history in games played (1,484), 44th in assists (732), 46th in points (1,184) and 54th in goals (452), in 21 seasons with St. Louis, Philadelphia and Carolina. He was named to the NHL’s All-Rookie Team in 1990, after scoring 61 points (26g, 35a) in 79 games for St. Louis, and played in the NHL All-Star Game while a member of the Flyers in 1992. Brind’Amour represented Canada in the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, as well as the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, and won back-to-back Frank J. Selke trophies as the NHL’s top defensive forward in 2005-06 and 2006-07, as a member of the Hurricanes.

Brind’Amour played in 159 career Stanley Cup Playoff games, totaling 51 goals and 60 assists (111 points). He participated in the Stanley Cup Final three times, reaching the Final in 1997 with Philadelphia, and in 2002 and 2006 with Carolina, captaining the Hurricanes to the 2006 Stanley Cup championship. Acquired by the Hurricanes from the Philadelphia Flyers on Jan. 23, 2000, Brind’Amour ranks second in career points for the Hurricanes since the team’s relocation to North Carolina, notching 473 points in 694 games played. He also ranks second in assists (299), second in shorthanded goals (10), fourth in goals (174) and third in power-play goals (60) in the team’s North Carolina history. Brind’Amour ranks third in franchise history (including Hartford) in assists (299), fourth in points (473) and fifth in games played (694). Named the Hurricanes’ captain prior to the 2005-06 season, Brind’Amour netted 31 goals and earned 39 assists (70 points) that season to lead the team to a franchise-record 52 regular-season wins. His league-leading 12 playoff goals during the team’s Stanley Cup run also set a franchise record.