Raleigh, N.C. — In Rod, we trust.
That was the message from Carolina Hurricanes general manager Eric Tulsky on Tuesday as he and coach Rod Brind’Amour held their end-of-season press conference.
The Hurricanes lost in five games to the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference Final. Carolina lost the first two games of the series at home, leading some fans to suggest Brind’Amour has carried the team as far as he can. Other hockey observers suggested Brind’Amour’s preferred style of play had a ceiling, a critique rebuked by Carolina players and coaches.
Such criticism died down after the Hurricanes played much better in the final three games of the series.
The Hurricanes have reached the postseason and won at least one series in each of them for the past seven years under Brind’Amour, a franchise icon who helped the Canes win the Stanley Cup as a player in 2006.
Brind’Amour said Tuesday that his entire staff is expected to return.
“This staff is incredibly detail oriented and incredibly good at sort of finding those edges and communicating them to the players,” Tulsky said. “I think the level of buy-in that Rod and his staff get from the team is extraordinary. I genuinely don’t know if there is another staff in the league that has that combination of ability to find edges and ability to get the team bought in and doing it.”
Tulsky praised Brind’Amour’s ability to integrate new players into the team without taking a step back.
Carolina is tied with Colorado for the most points (519) over the past five regular seasons. Only Florida (47)and Edmonton (41) have more postseason wins than the Hurricanes (35) over that time period. Florida is making its third consecutive appearance in the Stanley Cup Final, and Edmonton is back for the second straight year.
“This might have been one of the best seasons we’ve had in 20 years,” Brind’Amour said, pointing to the roster turnover last offseason, the midseason trades involving Mikko Rantanen and how well the team played in the first two rounds of the postseason when it went 8-2 against New Jersey and Washington.
“I don’t know that we could have played much better in the first two rounds,” Brind’Amour said. “And yeah, of course, we always remember the last round. We’d love to have done better. … Certainly critical of myself on things and how to get better, but I thought, as a staff, we did a really good job.”
Now the attention turns to Tulsky, who succeeded Don Waddell last offseason. The Hurricanes have about $30 million in salary cap space and few sports to add around the team’s core, which is largely locked up into the future. The team has a steady pipeline of prospects, led by Bradly Nadeu, and extra draft picks moving forward.
“Our goal is to win a Cup and our goal is to win more Cups after that and keep going,” Tulsky said. “And we’re trying to build a team that can compete year after year. But competing isn’t enough. We want to win, and so you got to find a way to do that.”
Top-four defenseman Brent Burns and Dmitry Orlov are free agents, but the Canes may be able to replace them with rookies Alexander Nikishin and Scott Morrow. Brind’Amour praised Burns, who is 40, for his work ethic, how he sets the team’s culture and the adjustments he’s made to his game. Burns indicated last week that he’s uncertain as to his future plans.
Tulsky said the team is built on three things: defending really well, creating turnovers off the forecheck and creating offense once they get the puck back.
“All three areas, honestly, there’s room to improve,” Tulsky said.
The most glaring need is for a top-end goal scorer. Seth Jarvis led the team with 32 goals in the regular season and Sebastian Aho had 29. Seven players scored at least 15 goals for the Hurricanes.
Carolina has tried in the past two years to add that type of player, swinging in-season deals for Jake Guentzel and Rantanen, moves that Brind’Amour said he and the players appreciate.
“We’ve been going out, if they’re out there, trying to get them,” he said.
Free agency could offer another path. Toronto’s Mitch Marner (450 points over the past five seasons, 102 last season), Florida’s Sam Bennett (25 goals in 2024-25), Vancouver’s Brock Boeser (40 goals in 2023-24) and Winnipeg’s Nikolaj Ehlers (eight 20-goal seasons) are among the top free agents.
“We have full buy-in to spend to the cap, if there are ways to do it, to get better,” Tulsky said. “We have so much space and such a strong team, there’s no guarantees we can find ways to spend all that money, but we’re going to spend all summer trying.”
Even without reinforcements, the Hurricanes’ core is capable of contending once again. Brind’Amour said “there’s a lot of optimism, regardless of what Eric can do this summer.” But this summer offers a chance for the franchise to elevate.
It offers, too, a chance for some reflection after outlasting all but two teams.
“There’s four teams playing and we’re feeling like crap because we lost,” Brind’Amour said. “This is where you want to be. This is the level, the standard that you want to have as an organization. Taking all that back, it doesn’t change what our goal is. We’re trying to get to be that best team. And I think as long as we still have that fight in us and direction, I think then we’re in good shape.”