Carolina Hurricanes: Coaching on the Coaches’ History

With Rod Brind’amour at the helm, this team has become one of the best league wide, but how does Rod the bod compare to other coaches from the Canes past?

In 1997, the Carolina Hurricanes came into existence with their first head coach being Paul Maurice. Maurice would take the team from 1997-2003. In that time, Carolina would find the postseason 3 times, in 1998, 2001 and 2002. In 2002, Maurice lead the Canes to a berth in the Stanley Cup finals, where they lost in 5 games to the Detroit Red Wings.

In 2003, Maurice was sacked, and replaced with one of the best coaches in hockey history Peter Laviolette. The canes had one playoff run under Laviolette, but boy did they make the most of it. 2006, Carolina Hurricanes beat the Montreal Canadiens, New Jersey Devils, Buffalo Sabres, and Edmonton Oilers to capture the Stanley Cup. Laviolette would also become the first coach to win the cup, have a reverse sweep, and a win Presidents trophy with 3 different teams.

In 2008, Laviolette was fired, and Maurice was brought back. In his second stint with the team, Maurice managed to achieve another playoff berth, in 2009. Carolina would trample the New Jersey Devils and Boston Bruins en route to an Eastern Conference finals appearance. This is a little more impressive when you understand that the players on this roster were nowhere near as talented as players on his prior rosters in Carolina.

In 2011, the Carolina Hurricanes would appoint the 3rd head coach in franchise history, and it would be Kirk Muller who would take the helm. Under Muller, the canes would fail to make the postseason, and entering the start of what would be a long term rebuild. There would be a lot of turnover on the roster under Muller, and the Canes would never quite find their grove.

In 2014, Bill Peters took over. Like Muller before him, Bill Peters suffered with a lot of turnover on the Carolina roster, and his team never quite jelled together. There was very little that the fourth head coach in the history of the franchise could do to change that. His team underperfomed and never made the postseason.

After Peters comes Rod Brind’Amour. Brind’Amour took a young developing squad, with misfits and extra parts from other teams, and he turned them into a well-coached, organised defensive unit, with the star power to score when they had to. Brind’amour would make the Eastern Conference finals in his first season as head coach, and looks to build on it this year.

As for the stats, Maurice’s 1st stint in charge went 207-219-96, for a win percentage of .489. Laviolette would manage a 167-122-34 record over his time in charge with a .570 win percentage. Maurice’s 2nd stint was a little better at 116-100-30 and a .533 win percentage. Muller went 80-80-27 during his time in charge. Peters went 137-138-53 for a .498 win percentage.

Rod Brind’Amour has only had 1 year in charge, and has only had a team with strong talent levels, but Rod’s first year went 46-29-7, for a .604 win percentage. In the playoffs, Roddy’s canes went 8-7 to be above .500 at a .533. This year the team is 20 – 11 – 2 with a lot of promise and talent.

We can talk about what the coaches couldn’t control, we can talk about the issues the teams had, and how it is unfair to grade them all on pure results, but from a wins and losses standpoint, there are two that stand far above the rest in this list. One of them won the cup in Carolina. The other is the active coach. Will history repeat itself?

Question for Cardiac Cane readers: Who do you think is the best coach in Carolina Hurricanes history?