Philly Front Office

Disclaimer: This is a repackaged and edited form of a Rod Brind’Amour story from earlier this season

There’s an age-old fan dilemma of who to root for once your team has been eliminated from the playoffs. Do you cheer for the team that beat you or do you curse them with the fire of a thousand suns? On one hand, I like the idea of deluding myself that maybe my team, in this case the Flyers, were conceivably the second-best team out there. On the other, fuck the Knicks! For these Stanley Cup Finals though, I’m all Hurricanes. Why? Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour.

Game 1: June 2 at Carolina
Game 2: June 4 at Carolina
Game 3: June 6 at Vegas
Game 4: June 9 at Vegas
Game 5: June 11 at Carolina*
Game 6: June 14 at Vegas*
Game 7: June 17 at Carolina*

All games at 8pm on ABC

The Flyers were a fun team to root for when I was a kid. Eric Lindros, John LeClair, and of course the guy with the cool name, Rod Brind’Amour. Here’s the story of how we got him and how we gave him to the Hurricanes where he has had success ever since.

Flyers Big Game Hunting

From St. Louis to Philadelphia

Twas a late September day before the start of the 1991 NHL season and the St. Louis Blues found themselves in a pickle, they needed a defenseman. This was not expected considering just the year before, the Blues had signed defenseman Scott Stevens to a new benchmark contract. Due to NHL rules at the time and since Stevens was a restricted free agent, the Blues owed his former team the Washington Capitals draft pick compensation. This particular offseason, the Blues went restricted free agent shopping again and signed Brendan Shanahan away from the NJ Devils. Since they didn’t have any more first round picks to trade, they offered Rod Brind’Amour. The Devils didn’t want Brind’Amour though, they wanted Stevens. An arbitrator got involved and awarded Stevens to NJ. Hence, the Blues needed a defenseman. The Flyers stepped in and offered youngster Murray Baron plus Ron Sutter in exchange for Brind’Amour and Dan Quinn. Both Quinn and Sutter had their best years behind them and were a wash in the trade while Brind’Amour made trading for Murray Baron look foolish. Baron spent 6 years in St. Louis, and they made the playoffs consistently, but Baron had little to do with it.

Brind’Amour made the All-Star team his first year in Philadelphia and immediately endeared himself to the local faithful. At one point he played in 484 consecutive games, a Flyers franchise record. He was an alternate captain throughout his time in Philly and ended up scoring 235 goals and 366 assists in his 9 seasons. He even led the Flyers in goals during their Cup finals run in 96-97. Unfortunately, his 13 goals were not enough. Not a bad career here.

From Philadelphia to Carolina

The 1999-2000 Flyers were real damn good, but had a big problem in the form of Eric Lindros. Lindros missed a ton of time that season and most of the playoffs with concussions. The Flyers needed a high end center to pick up were Lindros left off. Brind’Amour started the season with an ankle injury and seemed like the best bet to move. On January 23, the Flyers moved him to Carolina along with a 2nd round pick and Jean-Marc Pelletier for Keith Primeau and a 5th rounder.

Primeau’s time in Philly was certainly memorable. In the 2nd round of the playoffs against the Penguins, Primeau scored the winning goal in the 5th OT. It is still the longest game in playoff history (3rd longest ever). You’d think something like that would signal something serendipitous to come! Unfortunately, this is Philadelphia and it doesn’t work like that. Lindros came back for Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals and scored, but the Flyers lost 2-1. The next day was the infamous Scott Stevens hit on Lindros that basically ruined his life. Lindros refused to play for the Flyers ever again. That was fine for Primeau who ended up having his best season, leading the team with 34 goals. In 2004, Primeau would be an All-Star and lead the Flyers again within a game of the Stanley Cup Finals. Primeau famously scored the game tying goal with 2 minutes left in Game 6. The OT victory sent the series to Game 7, but it wasn’t to be.

You’d think that with 11 seasons under his belt, Brind’Amour would start slowing down. Not so fast. This is Rod the Bod we are talking about. Apparently, Brind’Amour is a workout fiend (he has the gargantuan face to prove it) and had no interest in allowing his body to do anything but stay in playing shape. He would go on to play 10 more seasons in Carolina! And that doesn’t even include the lost 04-05 season. If anything, he improved with age as he won the Selke award twice, at ages 35 and 36. After 18 years, he finally won his elusive Stanley Cup with the Hurricanes, scoring 12 times that playoffs.

Most Unfortunate Team Names in Sports

Coach Bod

Brind’Amour ended up playing until he was 39 years old. Of course, when you are a hockey guy like Rod Brind’Amour, you are never really done with hockey. The next year, he signed on as an assistant coach with the Hurricanes. 7 years later, he was promoted to head coach and the team has been pretty damn good ever since. His first year they made the playoffs and he hasn’t missed the dance since. The team has now eclipsed the 100 point mark 4 out of 5 seasons with their only miss a 99 point effort last year.

He now has his Hurricanes playing for the Stanley Cup after 3 losses in the Conference Finals (including last year). Sure, they beat the Flyers, kicked our ass actually, but that was expected. Hurricanes fans had a good time at our expense, but I don’t think there’s any ill will on our side there. That’s especially true when we look across the aisle and see Las Vegas coach John Tortorella and goalie Carter Hart, both former Flyers. I don’t know about anyone else, but I do not want to see them rewarded after how they got themselves run out of town. I’m rooting for Rod Brind’Amour.

All statistics courtesy of Hockey Reference.