Another Fork in the Road: The search for the next Canes Head Coach

This past Friday Hurricanes coach Bill Peters resigned in order to take the coaching job with the Calgary Flames. Once again and for the third time in the past ten seasons, The Carolina Hurricanes are searching for their next head coach. Now there are several potential candidates out there, and I am aware that hiring a General Manager should be this teams first priority. However, here are a few of the men I would like to see considered ( and one I wouldn't touch) for the next Carolina Hurricanes Coach.

STAY AWAY FROM: Rod Brindamour
In my last blog post I mentioned how it seemed rather "Bush League" for the team to continue hanging on to the 2006 cup run. I understand Coach Brindamour played an big roll in that cup run and in all reality should have been awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy for his efforts. His number is in the rafters of the PNC and he could very well be a Hall of Famer, but that DOES NOT make him a great coaching candidate. Even though Brindamour has never been a bench boss in any facet of professional hockey, he has served as an assistant in Raleigh since 2011 in the midst of the playoff drought. Brindamour has been in charge of the power play the past couple of seasons, and we have all seen how abysmal that has been at times. Finally as I mentioned before Brindamour has been an assistant for three coaches ( Paul Maurice, Kirk Mueller and Bill Peters). All three have been far from successful in their stints and it leaves me to wonder if Brindamour has had the answer the past 7 years why hasn't he given it to the man in charge? That question alone, with the lack of experience, and underperforming power play unit. Makes Brindamour a hard pass for me.

Best Fit: Darryl Sutter
The Hurricanes, have made no secrets of their plans to build from the blue line out. With Justin Faulk being the defensive Graybeard at age 26. Coupled with D-men such as Noah Hanifin, Jaccob Slavin, and Brett Pesce each coming into their own it would make the most sense for a defensive minded coach like Darryl Sutter to come in and continue to build. In his 6 seasons with the Los Angeles Kings he built them into a two time Stanley Cup Winner, including a run in 2012 from the 8th seed. This was done with a strong and physical defense. Sutter would also bring an aura of familiarity to a young team, through locker room leader Justin Williams who played on both of Sutter's Cup winning teams. If the goal is to continue molding the team the way it has been molded as a defensive team that wants to win games in "a race to 3" Darryl Sutter is the most logical choice to fill the void.

The Sexy Pick :Dan Bylsma
The performance of the Buffalo Sabres this year proves that "Disco Dan" was not the problem there.
Blysma has been the pick of my friend RJ of the Florida Caniac (https://www.facebook.com/thefloridacaniac)
since the team missed the playoffs.(seriously check his page out for more insight) Like Sutter, Blysma has a deep playoff pedigree too, making back to back cup finals with the Penguins and winning in all in 2009. A former Jack Adams Coach of the Year winning the award in 2010 after making the playoffs in spite of injuries to his two stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, and the Fastest Coach in NHL History to 200 wins. Bylsma would likely bring a speed game to Raleigh accentuating the dynamic scoring abilities of players like Aho, Skinner, and Teravainen, as well as teaching hockey that is defensively responsible.

No Matter who new owner Tom Dundon and or the New General Manager Hire. Lets just hope this fork in the road takes us on the road to the playoffs. Thanks for Reading and Redvolution

The Caniac Collector


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