Offense refined, special teams soaring, and injuries overcome. Rod Brind'Amour's Hurricanes have dominated, proving his coaching prowess.
The Jack Adams Award is presented annually to the NHL's Coach of the Year as selected by the NHL Broadcasters Association.
It's a prestigious honor that recognizes the coach who has "contributed the most to his team's success."
With the Carolina Hurricanes being one of the best teams in the NHL this season, does coach Rod Brind'Amour have a case for winning?
Well, one would certainly think so, as the Canes are poised to have one of their best regular seasons in franchise history and that's a big testament to the work the coaching staff have done.
For one, the Hurricanes have overhauled their offensive game this season, putting even more of an emphasis on entering the offensive zone with control and generating off of the rush.
Jack Han, former coach/analyst and author of Hockey Tactics, described the Hurricanes' offensive evolution as "cutting edge," in his recent book, Hockey Tactics 2026.
I've heard many broadcasts this year, both local and national, that have incorrectly labeled the Canes as a dump-and-chase team or a grindy team that will shoot from anywhere in the zone.
That couldn't be any further from the truth nowadays and is a lazy narrative for those who haven't actually taken the time to really watch this team play.
Do the Hurricanes control the puck more than their opponents? Yes, but they're also not just throwing low-danger shots at the net.
The Canes are much more prone to make east-to-west passes and have a lot of fluidity in the offensive zone where they move defenders out of position and set up looks from dangerous scoring positions.
And look no further for proof of this evolution than the fact that this is the highest scoring season ever in team history.
What makes it even more impressive is that the Canes have gotten here without a true superstar talent up front.
Instead, the team has seven different 20-goal scorers, the most by any team in the entire NHL this season.
That's a credit to the development of players like Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake — who have taken huge steps in their sophomore seasons to be impact players — but also to guys like Nikolaj Ehlers who've fit in perfectly to the team's style of play.
In fact, the Canes have multiple 20-goal scorers on all three of their top lines. The team has identified and grown players they've identified as matches to their style of play and put them in positions to succeed.
The Hurricanes have also had a significant year on special teams too, which many times comes down to tactics.
The Canes currently have the fifth best power play in the league, but it's been the best since the start of 2026.
Carolina at one point was at the bottom of the entire league on the man advantage, but they've made adjustments and tweaks along the way and now no team has been better than them down the stretch.
The penalty kill is also back up in the top-10 after starting the year slow, which can more so be accredited to the injury issues the team had to deal with this year.
Most notably, Carolina was without top defenseman Jaccob Slavin for over half the season.
The veteran blueliner, who is widely regarded as one of the best defensive defensemen and penalty killers in the entire league, was sidelined with multiple injuries throughout the year.
And not only him, but the majority of the Hurricanes' blueline has been in and out of the lineup due to injuries this year.
Carolina has 83 man-games-lost due to injuries from their top-six blueline so far and have used 10 different defensemen in total throughout the year.
Yet they never really missed a beat throughout the season, a testament to the organizational depth, the systems the team has in place and the staff's ability to put players in positions to succeed.
I mean, just look at the team's last two games in Chicago and Utah. They rested seven starters in each game, yet still dominated their opponents. That goes beyond just the players on the ice.
The Canes have also had this type of overall success despite struggles in goal.
The Hurricanes have the seventh worst save percentage in the entire league and the 11th worst goals against above expected.
A lot of times, overall team quality gets masked by goaltending and finishing, but Carolina actually has exact league average finishing with below average goaltending, which shows me that their success is a true example of team quality.
And without a superstar, the team is product of its whole, again, a testament to coaching, in my opinion.
Unfortunately, the award generally shades more toward unexpected risers rather than perennial contenders, which means coaches who show a long track record of success aren't properly recognized.
Brind'Amour, who won the award in 2021, aptly fits that description of the latter as the Hurricanes have been one of the NHL's best and most dominant teams for years now, yet so little is made about his hand in that success.
The Hurricanes have gone from bottom feeders to true Stanley Cup competitors and that's a credit to the work that Rod Brind'Amour has done and continues to do.
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