As a player, Rod Brind’Amour had the gift of knowing what to say, how to say it and - perhaps most importantly - how much of it to say. They were traits that helped to define him as a Stanley Cup-winning captain, and became the stuff of legend within the walls of the Carolina Hurricanes’ locker room.
Now, as the Canes’ coach, Brind’Amour is putting those traits to work in a whole different way.
Still less than a decade removed from his playing career, Brind’Amour might not be the first person that comes to mind when thinking about how to reach today’s NHL players, but he knows that communicating with players who are the age of his own children requires a different approach, one that meets the players on their own terms instead of forcing them to conform to his.