Hurricanes
Brind'Amour: Everyone starts from scratch
Carolina Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour spoke to the media ahead of Carolina's first-round playoff series against the New York Islanders.
What's up with quick and, and his status. Um, yeah, he wasn't able to practice today. Let's see. Um, I doubt he'll be practicing tomorrow, but maybe we'll see, but not a ultra long term. I don't think that, I don't know, I don't know, we'll see. I mean, it's real obvious when you're a playoff series can be seven games. But how does the, the preparation change when you're preparing for a seven game series versus an opponent each night? Uh, yeah, that's a good question. I think. I think you prepare for your opponent, you know, you know, obviously you trying to pick up tendencies and everything like that and then, you know, you make adjustments as you go along because you know that everybody knows, ok, they're doing this. So you, you know, you have to have kind of that in the back of your mind as you go along. But the longer I do this, the, the, the more I realize you really just got to get your team ready to play your game. And, um, if you're worrying too much about all the stuff that might happen, you, you lose sight of what, what you gotta do on the one hand it's a familiar opponent when you played last year, but on the other new coach, is there anything any differences you see in this team as opposed to that? No, he's gone playing really well. I mean, yeah, I don't know, there's a ton of differences in the lineups necessarily, but just their mindset for sure. And the way they play it and playing as a, certainly as a group of 20 you can see that last year, this year, last year. And yeah, that's well huge, I guess. Uh you take one of your best players out of the lineup at this time of year. That's, you know, that's tough. Um And so hopefully, you know, he continues to be the impact player that he's been here the last few games and, um certainly makes us a better group building off of that. Not only that, but also you got a guy like Jake Denzel. Um Do you feel like even though you have a lot of the same faces, it's kind of an all different group altogether because of what everyone brings now. Um It's not a different group, that's for sure. I think the, the main pieces are still the same we've had for a while. But yeah, we've added some nice uh additions like you mentioned and, and again, it's just trying to get that much better and hopefully, uh obviously that's, that's what ends up happening every year there's changes after a season, but this year there's the potential of a lot of changes. Do you tap into that at all? And, and let these guys know like this is, you know, this could be the last, I don't really think I have to. I mean, we all, we're all big boys. We, we understand. Uh, but, uh, you know, we're not focused on the, what if, after it, we gotta focus on trying to do our best. Uh as, as, you know, the day right in front of us, not worrying about what's down the road when you were, when you were, you know, winning the Stanley Cup in 2006 though. Was there a sense of there are guys who maybe this is the last chance? Well, you always think that, I mean, you should, I remember what age you are and I think that's what you want to pose bomb. But yes, I mean, the reality, I remember thinking in 02 and we didn't win that. That was my last chance. And yet how many years later? Four years later, you got another one that, that's, you don't, you know, you always got to think that this could be your last one. Does it help to have someone like Jorda who won one so early and now has seen how hard it is. Well, it helps having him just in general because of the leadership and, but that helps him be a good leader is what he's gone through. Rod. You talked about being like a factor when you first came in or being relevant, being a contender every year. This group's had multiple pushes with the cup. A cup is the goal and it's, you know, you've been close. Do, how do you keep the pressure, I guess, from being an, I don't know, an overwhelming thing when you're at this point, another attempt would make your best for, um, well, that's what you want, first of all. And, and so you give the guys, you know, we talked about it the other day, it give them a lot of credit for getting us to this point and I have even had that discussion. Um, and now it's, you know, listen again, what it would, all we can ask is just be our best and that's doesn't end up being good enough. Well, you know, there's not much more you can ask. So, um, that's, that's what we're trying to do here at the beginning of the year. You obviously have that meeting with the players and the team saying the, what your expectations are day in and day out. Do you feel like those have been met as we approach and get into the playoffs? Yeah, 100%. I mean, we were, it's pretty good regular season, you know. Um, but all that did is get you to this point and, and we understand that too. But, uh, you know, we start scratch, everyone starts over and, um, now we gotta go ahead and have another good season. You have the luxury of two call centers playing at a really high level right now is the, the rotation something you consider keeping as the flights going on. I think everything's on the table. I mean, you know, your health is gonna be a big question and staying fresh and all that. So it's just nice to know that, you know, we have two guys that are playing at that level. Your defense has been good for years. Dmitri Orlov comes in here and gives it a level of depth, probably like you've not had before. I don't know whether you're speaking to him or just the fact that the bread and butter of this team is always defense. Um, does that give you some real strength? I mean, and, you know, that pairing certainly is a good pairing for us and, um, and we know the other four guys what they can do. So there's no question that's, uh, you know, if it's not the strength of our team, it's got to be considered one of the strengths that we have. And, um, hopefully they play to their bellies. I mean, that's really what it comes down to. Has there been, uh, an animosity build up against the Islanders haven't played them twice or because the series, you know, maybe didn't drag out to seven games or anything, do you think that that hasn't been a factor? I mean, I think every, every year, a new Year and there's different players. I mean, although there's a lot of familiar faces on both groups. Um, but, uh, yeah, I don't know. I mean, ii, I know we're, we don't, we don't look at it that way. Every year is a, is a fresh new start. All right. All right. Thank you. Thank you.