Rumor: Rod Brind'Amour gives the Hurricanes a big time ultimatum.

Although this has not as of yet been officially reported, it sounds like veteran head coach and former National Hockey League great Rod Brind'Amour is stepping up for his colleagues in a major, major, way.

On Saturday night during his weekly Headlines segment NHL insider Elliotte Friedman revealed that Brind'Amour has effectively given his current team, the Carolina Hurricanes, an ultimatum when it comes to his next contract extension. Brind'Amour is currently one of the most successful coaches in the entire league and there's no question in my mind that this gives him considerable leverage in negotiations, but the ask he has made of the Hurricanes is no trivial matter.

"One of the stories I've been trying to get around to around the league this week involves the future of Rod Brind'Amour, the head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes," began Friedman. "It seem to be a slam dunk, he's a great coach and the team is in an excellent place, really building in the right direction obviously. Well they don't have an extension done yet for next year and I understand that one of the biggest issues there is that Brind'Amour has asked, as much as he wants himself to get a contract extension, he also wants extensions for his coaching staff, training staff and the equipment staff which also are not signed for next year. He said as much as a priority his next contract is that is also an enormous priority for me. What he has told the organization is that he wants a situation where they are taken care of as well."

There's no other way to describe such a decision on the part of Brind'Amour other than as incredibly selfless and I have no doubt in my mind that it will only serve to enhance the already considerable level of respect he has earned both as a player and a coach around the NHL. That being said I believe it is likely that Brind'Amour knows just how in demand he would be on the open market and Friedman suggested this was very much the case.

"There's a lot of teams that would like to back up the Brinks truck for Brind'Amour if he was an unrestricted free agent," added Friedman.

To be clear Friedman made it clear that if he were a betting man his money would be on Brind'Amour remaining a Hurricane, but with the financial strain placed on every team around the league as a result of the pandemic it will be very interesting to see where this one goes. 

I would be remiss if I didn't add that former Carolina Hurricanes general manager Ron Francis is currently captaining the ship of the NHL's newest franchise, the Seattle Kraken, and I strongly suspect he would be first in line to offer Brind'Amour a job if things don't work out with the Hurricanes. No doubt there would be a great number of candidates looking to make Brind'Amour an offer if he did in fact hit the open market at the end of this current season, and perhaps even several willing to meet the demands he has made of the Hurricanes.