As an NHL star for 20 seasons, Rod Brind'Amour already had the respect of his peers when he went into the coaching business as an assistant coach in 2011.
Brind'Amour won a Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2005-06, so he had the pedigree teams were looking for in a coach when the squad hired him as an assistant.
However, in eight seasons as Carolina's coach, Brind'Amour has never missed the playoffs. That's in part due to the Hurricanes' terrific talent and development system, but Brind'Amour deserves a ton of credit for making the most of any roster he's been given – and for winning the Cup as a bench boss to put himself in lofty territory in hockey history.
This is partly why Brind'Amour ranks second overall in TheHockeyNews.com's NHL coach rankings.
We've been unveiling our subjective ranking of coaches centered on long- and short-term impact, as well as their expectations and reputation. The full list to date is at the bottom, but first, let's look at someone we think deserves to be a Hockey Hall of Famer.
2. ROD BRIND'AMOUR, CAROLINA HURRICANES
Brind'Amour's first Cup-winning season as a coach came this past June with the Hurricanes. And there's a reason why he won the Jack Adams Award in 2021 and is regularly a candidate to win multiple.
During Brind'Amour's tenure, the Hurricanes have never finished lower than fourth place in their division, and they finished first or second in six of eight seasons. In seven years, Carolina has made it at least out of the opening round.
Let's not forget – Brind'Amour is only 55, and he's already got 616 games of regular-season coaching experience with a 378-182-56 record.
He can now coach for as long as he wants to, and if Brind'Amour does decide to stick around over the long term, he will move steadily up the list of the most-experienced and most-winning coaches of his generation.
Brind'Amour's reputation – especially after this past season – is that of a proven winner and a modern coach. He finds the right buttons to push for each of his players, even if that means taking a different tack with them as individuals. He isn't an over-the-top barker in the mold of a John Tortorella or Mike Keenan.
But the proof is in the pudding – Brind'Amour consistently wins.
Among every bench boss who's coached at least 100 regular-season games in NHL history, Brind'Amour has the second-highest points percentage, at .657. The coach in first place, Tom Johnson, only coached 208 games with the Boston Bruins between 1970-71 and 1972-73.
Now that Brind'Amour has lived up to expectations as this year's Cup champion, he can continue to underscore his legacy. After all, there were some brief conversations entering this past post-season about whether he could be on the hot seat if the Hurricanes couldn't get into at least the Cup final.
Without question, the Hurricanes will want to keep Brind'Amour for as long as he wants to be there. And Carolina's relatively young core of talent has its sights set on establishing a modern-day dynasty. So it's obvious that Brind'Amour's next goal is to repeat as the Cup-winner next year, and that's not an unreasonable ask of him.
His players want to go through a wall for him, and he's stuck by them when it might've been easier to throw some of them under the bus. Brind'Amour understands the highs, lows and the grind of each season because of his playing days, and he's been able to convert that experience into a pedigree that separates him from virtually every other coach in the league.
NHL COACH RANKINGS
2. Rod Brind'Amour, Carolina
3. Paul Maurice, Florida
4. Jared Bednar, Colorado
5. Joel Quenneville, Anaheim
6. Mike Sullivan, NY Rangers
7. Martin St-Louis, Montreal
8. Rick Tocchet, Philadelphia
9. Spencer Carbery, Washington
10. Peter DeBoer, NY Islanders
11. John Hynes, Minnesota
12. Lindy Ruff, Buffalo
13. Dan Muse, Pittsburgh
14. Rick Bowness, Columbus
15. Peter Laviolette, Los Angeles
16. Jim Montgomery, St. Louis
17. Todd McLellan, Detroit
18. Marco Sturm, Boston
19. Sheldon Keefe, New Jersey
20. Scott Arniel, Winnipeg
21. Travis Green, Ottawa
22. Glen Gulutzan, Dallas
23. Andre Tourigny, Utah
24. Jim Hiller, Toronto
25. Ryan Warsofsky, San Jose
26. Manny Malhotra, Vancouver
27. Ryan Huska, Calgary
28. Mike Babcock, Edmonton
29. Andrew Brunette, Nashville
30. Ryan Craig, Vegas
31. Lane Lambert, Seattle
32. Jeff Blashill, Chicago