For Canes’ Rod Brind’Amour, it’s ‘wait ‘til next year’ with Hockey Hall of Fame ... again
Rod Brind’Amour’s wait to be recognized by the Hockey Hall of Fame continues.
An announcement of the inductees for the Class of 2023 came Wednesday from the Hall of Fame in Toronto. Brind’Amour was passed over again as player, failing to receive at least 75% of the vote from the 18-member selection committee.
Brind’Amour’s hockey credentials are many and distinguished, both as a player and then as head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes the past five seasons.
This year’s class includes former NHL goalies Henrik Lundqvist, Tom Barrasso and Mike Vernon, Pierre Turgeon, Caroline Ouellette, Pierre Lacroix (builder), and Ken Hitchcock (builder).
Brind’Amour was the captain of the Hurricanes’ 2006 Stanley Cup champions. In a career that had him first play for the St. Louis Blues and Philadelphia Flyers and then Carolina, he competed in 1,484 regular-season and 159 playoff games.
Brind’Amour finished with 1,184 points including 452 goals and twice was named the Selke Trophy winner as the league’s best defensive forward with the Canes. Productive on the power play and intensely competitive on the penalty kill, he also was one of the league’s best at faceoffs.
“He played at such a high level for such a long time and understood both ends of the ice probably better than anybody,” Matt Cullen, a forward on the 2006 Stanley Cup champs, said in a 2019 interview with the News & Observer.
Brind’Amour’s coaching success only adds to his full hockey resume, something to which many proponents of his induction point.
As a head coach, Brind’Amour has led the Hurricanes to five consecutive playoff appearances in his five years. The Canes won the newly formed Central Division in the condensed 2020-21 season, then returned to the Metropolitan Division the next season and won it the past two years.
The Hurricanes reached the Eastern Conference Final in 2019 and again this past season.
After being named the 2021 Jack Adams Award winner as NHL coach of the year, Brind’Amour guided the Hurricanes to franchise records for wins and points in 2021-22, topping the previous marks set by the 2006 Cup champions.
Brind’Amour, 52, was named to the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame (2016) and the Flyers Hall of Fame (2015.) His jersey number, No. 17, was retired by the Hurricanes during a ceremony in 2011.
Brind’Amour did not receive the 2006 Conn Smythe Trophy as the Canes’ rookie goaltender, Cam Ward, was named the playoffs MVP. Some believed Brind’Amour should have won, and a Conn Smythe might have bolstered his resume.
The Hurricanes’ current representatives in the Hockey Hall of Fame: former owner Peter Karmanos Jr.; former president and general manager Jim Rutherford and former Canes captain Ron Francis, who won two Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins before coming to Carolina. Karmanos (2015) and Rutherford (2019) entered the hall in the “builder” category; Francis was inducted in 2007.
