In the coming days, teams keen on pursuing Rod Brind’Amour as coach will find out how serious he and the Carolina Hurricanes are about him staying on Tobacco Road.
After the sting of losing a late lead Thursday, falling 5-3 and being eliminated in six games by the New York Rangers, talk will turn to getting Brind’Amour’s name on a multi-year deal. Until then, his undeclared status is creating some drama with other vacancies around the National Hockey League.
Chris Kreider’s natural hat trick on Thursday ended the Canes’ shot at becoming just the fifth team to rebound from a deficit of 0-3 in a best-of-seven series. But ownership and management put a lot of resources via trades into getting the Canes through the opening rounds, without success.
Now the polite assurances that a deal would eventually get done as Brind’Amour’s final year elapsed have to be settled.
While the Maple Leafs are taking a good look at Craig Berube to replace Sheldon Keefe, they were no doubt waiting to see which way the wind is blowing with Brind’Amour. Joel Quenneville being stuck in limbo with the league yet to determine his future might also be delaying the final call in Toronto and elsewhere.
Quenneville would also be high on the list of clubs such as San Jose, Seattle, Winnipeg and New Jersey, but there has been no official indication from commissioner Gary Bettman when he’ll be allowed to work again. He was shelved three years ago for perceived indifference during the Kyle Beach scandal with the Chicago Blackhawks, which cost him his position in Florida.
Todd McLellan flew from Los Angeles, his last post, to be interviewed in Toronto this week, but could also get attention from the Devils, while in the East after they apparently passed on Berube and got Toronto’s permission to speak to Keefe. Former Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft is getting some mentions, too.
After being let go by St. Louis earlier this season, Berube returned to the Philadelphia area, where he’d played and first served as an NHL head coach with the Flyers, telling blogger Wayne Fish: “I’m going to wait for an NHL job and see what happens.
It doesn’t matter where. I’m sure I have a shot. It all boils down to talking to a team, talking to the GM, the ownership. If they believe in your message, if they like what you’re saying. In the interview process, if it’s a good fit for me and a good fit for them, probably
MARCHAND FEELING BETTER
An extra day off in the Boston–Florida series could allow Bruins’ captain Brad Marchand to get back in the lineup Friday night’s Game 6.
But Marchand insists his desire to extend the series will out-weigh any wish to retaliate against Sam Bennett, who was accused of camouflaging a sucker punch in the collision that rang Marchand’s bell in Game 3.
“He plays hard, he’s an extremely physical player, great player for the group,” Marchand said in describing Bennett to reporters in Boston at practice on Thursday. “I think he got away with a shot (not called by either referee in the game or subject to NHL Player Safety review), but I’m not going to complain. S**t happens. That’s part of especially playoff hockey. I’ve been on the other side of a lot of plays. It sucks to be on the other side. But it is what it is.
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