The Hockey News has released their archives, 76 years of history, stories and features, and it is available now to all THN subscribers.
To celebrate that release, we're looking back at some of THN's most timeless stories. Today, a look at Rod Brind'Amour and the team on the verge of a Stanley Cup Championship from March 21, 2006, Vol. 59, Issue 26.
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In the end, the move was a blessing in disguise, one that paid huge dividends. Today Rod Brind’Amour wouldn’t change a thing.
But on Jan. 23, 2000, when he got the news he had been traded by the Philadelphia Flyers to the Carolina Hurricanes, it was as if someone had stuck a dagger through his heart. Brind’Amour didn’t just play for the Flyers; he lived for them.
“I’m not stupid, I know this is a business,” Brind’Amour says, “but you always hope that you are going to be the exception to the rule.
“The funny thing is, at the time, of the 20 or so guys we had on the team, I was probably the one who bled orange-and-black. That’s what hurt more than anything. I wanted to be there and some of the other guys didn’t.”
The Flyers felt they were within striking distance of winning the Stanley Cup – not exactly unfamiliar territory for that team – and figured the acquisition of Keith Primeau would put them over the top. It didn’t, and the Flyers still haven’t played in the final since 1997.
For their part, the Hurricanes failed to make the playoffs that season, but two years later went all the way to the Cup final, losing in five games to the Detroit Red Wings.
Fast forward to 2006 and the Hurricanes are once again a legitimate threat to, at the very least, make it to the final, if not win their first Cup. And – surprise, surprise – Brind’Amour is front and center, leading one of the NHL’s biggest surprise teams. A pro’s pro, Brind’Amour admits it took him a while to get over being traded to Carolina, not exactly a hockey market with a rich tradition.
“To be honest, I was devastated,” Brind’Amour says. “At the time Philadelphia was one of the premier places in the NHL to play and I really wanted to be a Flyer for the rest of my career.
“I remember my first game in Carolina, there were about 8,000 fans in the stands. It almost felt like a practice. It was a difficult transition.”
-“TO BE HONEST I WAS DEVASTATED
It was not the last difficult transition that Brind’Amour – and the Canes, for that matter – would face.
There is really no figuring this organization out. Just when you think you have a handle on it, Carolina either disappoints you beyond belief or surprises the daylights out of you.
The Hurricanes – the epitome of feast of famine – are in surprise-the-daylights-out-of-you mode this season. Since last shocking the hockey world and making it to the final in 2002, Carolina has not seen the playoffs. And there was little indication the Canes would make it to the dance this year. (The Hockey News had the Hurricanes above only 15th-place Washington in the Eastern Conference in our pre-season predictions.)
Yet at the trade deadline, 40 days from the end of the season, the Hurricanes sat atop the NHL’s overall standings. Of course people will ask the question, are the Canes for real?
“Yes, we are for real,” insists coach Peter Laviolette. “We were picked to finish 28th or 29th by many people and then we went 5-2-1 in pre-season. We were outshooting and out-chancing teams 2-1, yet people still didn’t like us. I would say to my assistant coaches, ‘Am I missing something?’ ”
Indeed, what’s not to like about the Hurricanes? They have one of the best young talents in the league, Eric Staal, who benefited greatly from playing in the American League during the lockout. He ranked third in NHL scoring with 39 goals and 82 points through 62 games.
Martin Gerber is proving himself to be a reliable starting goaltending in his first real shot at being a No. 1 in the NHL. Cory Stillman has been a valuable free agent addition, while Justin Williams (21 goals, 58 points in 62 games) is one of the most underappreciated players in the league. The same might be said for Matt Cullen, who has quietly scored 20 goals and 37 points in 58 games.
And then, of course, there’s Brind’Amour, who leads the NHL in ice time among forwards, averaging 24 minutes and 38 seconds a game. He also led forwards in ice time in 2002-03 at 23:46. That’s because he is as good a two-way threat as you’ll find.
Carolina routinely rotates seven defensemen and while they don’t have a stud on the blueline, they get things done nicely by committee.
Life is not perfect, however. The Hurricanes suffered a blow when right winger Eric Cole sustained a neck injury after being driven into the boards head-first by Pittsburgh defenseman Brooks Orpik March 4.
Carolina’s third-leading scorer, with 30 goals and 59 points in 60 games, Cole will miss the remainder of the regular season (see sidebar).
That said, the Canes acquired veterans Doug Weight from St. Louis and Mark Recchi from Pittsburgh. Recchi likely will join the top unit, replacing Cole, while Weight centers the third line.
The Hurricanes benefit greatly from team speed, but more than anything it is their discipline that has helped them rise to the top of the mountain.
“Early on, I think we had the best grasp of any team on the rules,” Brind’Amour says. “Right from Day 1 at training camp, before we ever stepped on the ice, we had a meeting and Peter (Laviolette) said there would be consequences for any hooking, holding and interference. The point was driven home that these things would not be allowed moving forward.”
Laviolette informed his players they would skate extra laps as a team if they took too many obstruction-type penalties. He allowed them three per game without punishment, but any more than that resulted in the team doing additional laps, and the guilty party doing a few solo laps on top of that.
-GOING INTO EVERY GAME THIS YEAR, WE REALLY FEEL WE CAN WIN - ROD BRIND’AMOUR
“It wasn’t like they were grueling skates,” Laviolette says. “It wasn’t a big skate, a skate to get irritated over, maybe 20 seconds each. But it planted a seed. The league was so adamant that it was going to change the way the game was going to be played and you’re talking about breaking years of tradition. By making the whole team skate, you had to carry the weight of your peers on your shoulders. It was done to hold people accountable to not take penalties.”
After going .500 in its first six games, Carolina peeled off nine wins in a row and hasn’t looked back. There were a pair of three-game losing streaks to contend with, but there was never a moment when it appeared as though the team was headed south.
And people are starting to take notice of the team’s success. When Carolina made it to the final in 2002, the locals went ga-ga, the RBC Center was one of the loudest buildings in the NHL and Hurricane-mania swept North Carolina.With the Canes on the rise again, excitement is in the air. Attendance increased 17 per cent after the Canes moved into first place Jan. 17. That’s up 34 per cent from the same time in 2002-03.
“It’s out there, you can feel it,” said center Kevyn Adams to the Raleigh News & Observer. “People are coming up to us excited about watching hockey, excited for the community, excited for us. As players, that’s what you want. You work hard and you hope people will notice.”
There are those who would suggest that signing defenseman Frantisek Kaberle was a panic move after the team lost Sean Hill to free agency; that Gerber and his backup, Cam Ward, allow too many soft goals; and the team paid way too high a price to entice blueliner Oleg Tverdovsky to rejoin the NHL.
The doubters wonder if Laviolette has pushed them so hard during the regular season that they won’t have anything left for the playoffs.
Only time will tell. Although, if the Hurricanes go deep into the post-season, it would be hard to argue GM Jim Rutherford didn’t have a good handle on what he was doing.
For now, the Hurricanes look more like the dominant Red Wings team that beat Carolina in 2002 than the Canes squad that lost that series. Carolina upset its way through the first three rounds en route to the final that year. If they get to the final this year, it won’t be a surprise.
“The way the team was built in 2002 is completely different from this team,” says 18-year vet Glen Wesley. “We were more of a defensive team back then and not to take anything away from (coach) Paul Maurice, but Peter’s philosophy is so much different. He wants us to be very aggressive on offense and the way our defense plays is completely different. He likes us to be aggressive in the offensive zone.”
Brind’Amour is at peace in his life. After going through a divorce that left him exhausted and affected his on-ice performance, he says his personal life is on the mend and he is back on top of his game.
Some would say Brind’Amour is a shoo-in to win the Selke Trophy as the NHL’s best defensive forward, though folks in Ottawa would put Mike Fisher up against him in a heartbeat. Other observers dream even bigger, insisting that Brind’Amour is a perfect candidate to win the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player.
“This is the year Rod steps into the role as captain and he has an opportunity to put his imprint on the team,” Laviolette says. “I think it speaks volumes when your captain is your hardest-working guy in games, in practices, in the weight room.
“He says the right things and he does the right things. He stands for character. If the guy who has been doing it the amount of years he has been doing it doesn’t take off optional practices and stays out late after practice to continue working, there’s nowhere else for anyone else to go other than to follow his leadership.”
Williams, who joined the Flyers a year after Brind’Amour departed for Carolina, is in awe of his team’s captain.
“His work ethic is second to none,” Williams says. “You hear that he is the first one in and the last one out, and it sounds like a cliche, but he literally is that way all the time.”
For his part, Brind’Amour is confident in his team’s future.
He says the additions of Stillman, Kaberle, Tverdovsky, Ray Whitney, Mike Commodore, Matt Cullen and, of course, Weight and Recchi, give the Hurricanes depth they never dreamed of. And he believes the team can ride Gerber all the way to a championship.
“I played against him a couple of times and I knew he was great,” Brind’Amour says.
“I know we can do well in the playoffs. We have played against good teams and we have competed against all of them. I’m not worried about whether or not we can beat good teams. Going into every game this year, we really feel we can win. In the past we knew if we played good, we might win. Now if we play our best, we’re going to win and that’s a good feeling.”
120 POINTS
Carolina’s projected point total this season
93 POINTS
Previous best season point total (as Hartford in 1986-87)
43 WINS
Franchise record for wins in a season. The Canes had 43 wins with 20 games remaining.
