Philadelphia Flyers
Rod Brind’Amour Shows Why Flyers Should Have No Interest
If Philadelphia Flyers fans are enviously watching other teams playing in the Stanley Cup playoffs this year, that’s understandable. After all, the Flyers are rebuilding and are generally very far away from being a team that can make it to the second round or further. But if you’re looking to Rod Brind’Amour and his Carolina Hurricanes, you have the wrong idea.
Brind’Amour, 53, spent nine years with the Flyers during his outstanding 20-year playing career. He did win the Stanley Cup with the Hurricanes as a player, but he hasn’t shown that he can do it as a coach.
Some Flyers fans have this fantasy of Brind’Amour returning to Philadelphia and replacing John Tortorella as the Flyers’ head coach, particularly due to his success as a coach in the regular season. Brind’Amour has won no fewer than 52 games in each of his last three seasons behind Carolina’s bench.
If the expectation is that Brind’Amour elevates the Flyers to a level that makes them a perennial playoff team that can win the Stanley Cup, those hopes are misplaced. The Hurricanes are currently down 3-0 to the New York Rangers in the Stanley Cup playoffs, putting them one game away from getting swept in the second round.
If the Rangers sweep Brind’Amour and the Hurricanes, Carolina will have gotten swept two years in a row. Here’s how the postseason has treated the Hurricanes under Brind’Amour: swept in the conference finals in 2019, lost in five games in the first round of 2020, lost in five games in the second round of 2021, lost in seven games in the second round of 2022, swept in the conference finals of 2023, and on track to get swept in the second round of 2024.
Brind’Amour’s teams tend to run out of gas fairly quickly in the postseason, and while he is absolved of the responsibility of building the team, the Hurricanes’ results always come back to him. Should the Hurricanes get swept by the Rangers, Brind’Amour will be exactly .500 in the Stanley Cup playoffs as a head coach; 36 wins and 36 losses.
While Tortorella is well under .500 in the playoffs himself (.467, to be exact), the Flyers aren’t employing him to win a championship—not right now, anyway. And in that regard, Tortorella has a Stanley Cup to his name as a coach, while Brind’Amour does not. Changing coaches for the sake of regular season success serves no purpose to the Flyers at this time.
The 2023-24 season showed the organization’s commitment to teaching players how to win, both on and off the ice. Brind’Amour could certainly do that himself, but again, the Flyers would be making a change for the sake of making a change.
Rome wasn’t built in a day. As for the Hurricanes? The bigger they are, the harder they fall. It’ll be tough to get back up from another disappointing postseason run.
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I’d still love to see him coaching the Flyers, but I agree this offseason (and probably not the next, either) is not the time for it. Every team that doesn’t win the cup gets eliminated from the playoffs, all I’ve read in this article about his postseason results are “made the playoffs every time, and has won several series in the process.”
As for the Canes and Rags this season, the Rags absolutely have the leg-up in terms of talent (not to mention questionable headhunting bullshit, cough cough), and that’s hardly his fault as a coach. And good luck winnings with TDA on your roster lol
So Andy Reid must not be a very good coach as he didn’t win a Super Bowl in his 12 seasons as the Eagles coach.
Andy got to the the Super Bowl in his 5th season.Rod isn’t sniffing the Stanley Cup Finals any time soon.
Don’t disagree but coaches grow and learn just like players. Nobody thought Andy Reid would win a super-bowl when he left the eagles.
Rod and the Canes are a lot closer to the finals than the Flyers are, aren’t they?
Correct
Way off here. The Canes don’t have a goalie that can steal a game. No team has shivers in the lockerroom facing Freddie Andersen. They could have won all 3 if special teams did their job. Players have to take some responsibility here. By the time the Flyers completed this rebuild Torts will be 75.
Rod D’ also never had the pleasure of his ‘Cane selecting a top five draft player in all his years there, except one year 2018…..Andrei Svechnikov…he has had to manage with what was given him by their scouting depts and the GM.
Canes talent level is very overrated. Never thought they were a contender
If they lose, it won’t be because of Brind’ Amour. Anything short of shooting the Rangers Goalie would not have resulted in a Hurricane win. They played great. Some nights it just doesn’t matter.
Sounds like you’re describing any team that might be considering contacting Toronto about Mitch Marner. All they would be doing is striving for regular season success.
There are exceptions to that…..Eichel did nothing with the Sabres but last season helped Vegas to the Cup, Panarin could not help Hawks repeat in ’15/ ’16, lost in first round, then there was the Jackets futility, but now has Rangers rolling into the Finals perhaps….Rinehart’s career was good but not great until the Panthers got him, same with Tkachuk, though Giroux could not get them over the hump. So there are exceptions to that rule. First step in getting to the Cup finals, is first having a great regular season to get into the play-offs.
Tough one here. Have to agree that Rod is an excellent coach, but he has had a lot of talent at his disposal for these playoff runs. Their GM makes deadline deals to fortify the roster. On the other hand, I don’t see the Canes playing with the same pace as the Rangers. Who is responsible for that? I agree with those here who place some responsibility on the players. Many veterans in the league do not like the puck attacking system. And then the other issue is the shortage of goalie talent in the NHL. Rangers have it, the other teams not at the same level. Pace & goaltending will bring the Rangers the cup.
From a hurricanes fan point of view:
We would all be incredibly sad to lose him because at least the team has a chance every year they make the playoffs, which has brought excitement to Raleigh, NC that wasn’t there for a loooong time before he came back to coach. Yea the canes are down 3-1, but they’ve been tight games and the Rangers were #1 in the league for a good reason.
Keep your head up Philly fans, your team is clearly headed the right direction, but our fan base would riot if they let Rod go lol
While I agree we can be successful without him. This a terrible take… They’re down 3-0 (now 3-1) against arguably the best team in hockey right now.
Hmm make the playoffs every year with a legitimate chance to challenge for the cup,I’ll take that any day!Brindamour was a warrior as a player and brings that same mentality as a coach!His players love and RESPECT him as well as the Hurricane fan base.The Black and Orange would once again be back in the NHL elite in the next cpl years With Rod,Jonesy,and Brierre at the helm.I would be ecstatic if Rod was behind the bench for the Flyers!!Unfortunately I dint think it will ever happen Cane’s would never let this great man go! #17 Forever !
I’ll take Brindamour tomorrow. He can teach and win. He’s had good playoff success. We’ve won 2 stinking series in 12 stinking years. Torts has done his work and, like everywhere else he coached, he’s worn thin. Enough already.