By Luke DeCock
May 9, 2018
Carolina Hurricanes new head coach Rod Brind’Amour makes remarks during an NHL hockey introductory news conference in Raleigh, N.C., Wednesday, May 9, 2018. . (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
RALEIGH- At 6 a.m., 14 minutes before sunrise and six hours before the press conference where he was officially introduced as the next head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes, only the fifth person to hold that position in the two decades the team has been in North Carolina, Rod Brind'Amour arrived at PNC Arena for his morning workout. He spent the rest of Wednesday morning watching tape before putting on a black suit, white shirt and red tie and stepping into a job he never thought he wanted while a dozen of his former teammates watched from the back of the room.
That timeline says a lot about Brind'Amour, from the workouts that didn't stop when he stopped playing eight years ago to the work ethic he'll expect his players to match, to the long-delayed and surprising realization that coaching was the only thing that could sate his inner competitive fires the way playing once did, to the respect he commanded from the players he captained.
Tom Dundon saw all this when he bought the team, recognized Brind'Amour as someone who could bring the change he quickly saw the Hurricanes desperately needed. To him, as to many if not all fans, Brind'Amour represented the culture he wanted the franchise to have, just as he did as one of the great NHL captains of his generation.
And if Brind'Amour is the right man for the job, it won't take very long to figure out whether Dundon was right nor not. If this is going to work, if Brind'Amour is going to wring every drop of effort and commitment out of this roster, he won't need much time. There's nothing he can do about goaltending right now, but the rest of it, if he's going to get the most out of this team, it's going to happen right away.
This is about culture, not about Xs and Os. Which isn't to say the latter doesn't matter, but the Hurricanes were actually pretty good at both the Xs and the Os under Bill Peters – look no further than their consistently excellent shot totals, Corsi and other measures of possession. Beyond save percentage, they have been lacking in less quantifiable areas: grit, toughness, hustle, accountability, preparation, commitment and, above all, belief.
“My philosophy is much more about culture and leadership and I felt like we had a sure thing,” Dundon said of Brind'Amour. “For sure, we had someone that does it the right way. If we're going to change the culture here, we've got to have someone leading it. We know what he embodies in life is the culture we want for the team.”
That's why Brind'Amour got the job. And if he's going to get through to this group, scour out the complacency, demand accountability and build confidence, it may take him two months to do it, but it won't take two seasons.
Click on the link below to read the rest of the article:
No comments:
Post a Comment