Latest On Carolina Coaching Search

While the Carolina Hurricanes continue their search for a general manager, they also have to start looking for a head coach. Bill Peters exercised his out clause to go to the Calgary Flames, leaving the team without much in place for next season. One name that had been rumored to be a possibility was Jim Montgomery, but as Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports, that “doesn’t appear to be a likely scenario” even after contact was made recently. Instead, Friedman lists Carolina assistant coach Rod Brind’Amour and Charlotte Checkers head coach Mike Vellucci as the most likely candidates.

Montgomery, the head coach of the University of Denver, has been connected to several coaching vacancies in the league the last few years. After winning at both the USHL and NCAA levels, he’s one of the hottest coaching prospects in North America and will likely earn a job somewhere in the NHL in the next few years. Though it doesn’t look like that’s in Carolina, keep him in mind for other vacancies as they appear.

Brind’Amour has been an assistant with the Hurricanes since almost immediately after his retirement from playing, and has long been considered a future head man. Dedicated to fitness and work ethic during his 1,484-game career, he might be able to instill the same kind of drive for a team under his control. Not to be undersold is his offensive mind though, after scoring 1,184 points in the NHL.

Vellucci is in his first year with the Checkers, but had a long history with the Plymouth Whalers in the OHL and has found immediate success in the AHL. Charlotte went 46-26-4 this season and is up 2-0 in their first round playoff series against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (though as of this writing are tied 2-2 in Game 3).