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Son of Carolina Hurricanes coach getting a shot in Florida Panthers’ organization

sam sklar, south florida sun-sentinel
·4 min read

CORAL SPRINGS — Brind’Amour.

Does that last name sound familiar?

Rod Brind’Amour is the coach of the Carolina Hurricanes, and his son, Skyler, is a new player in the Florida Panthers’ organization.

Skyler, 23, signed a two-year contract with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers in late April. He’s now grinding away in the Panthers’ system toward his dream of playing in the NHL.

The timing of the deal comes one month after Rod’s Hurricanes and Skyler’s Panthers faced each other in the Eastern Conference final.

“It was just awesome hockey,” Skyler said Tuesday on the second day of Panthers development camp. “I know it was a four-game sweep, but it was just a lot of fun to watch. Every game was super tight.

“I was able to go to a few games in Carolina and the place was rockin’ and there was a lot of good games. And then watching on the T.V. down here, it looked like it was going crazy, so it was just really a lot of fun hockey to watch.”

To make it even stranger, Skyler had sounded the Hurricanes’ siren at PNC Arena prior to overtime of Game 5 of the second round. The Hurricanes went on to beat the New Jersey Devils that night in overtime to advance to the conference final against the Panthers.

So, was he rooting for the Panthers or Hurricanes? We’ll never know.

“I have to plead the fifth on that one,” he said. “I can’t say that.”

Rod was hired as Carolina’s coach in 2018 and has made the Hurricanes into an Eastern Conference force. He brought the Hurricanes to their first playoff appearance in a decade in his first season, and Carolina has qualified for the playoffs every year since. That includes three consecutive division championships, two trips to the conference final, and a Jack Adams Award in 2021.

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As a player, Rod played 20 seasons in the NHL and was the team captain for the Hurricanes when they won the Stanley Cup in 2006.

He earned the nickname “Rod the Bod” when he played for the Philadelphia Flyers as an ode to his workout routine. At one point, his coach at Michigan State locked him out of the arena because he spent so much time in the gym.

Rod played over 1,400 games in the NHL — including a streak of 484 in a row — and won two Selke Trophies.

But besides the fatherly NHL connection, Skyler is no slouch as a hockey player.

Skyler played four years of college hockey at Quinnipiac and capped it off with a national championship in the spring. He had a career-high in both goals (14) and assists (18) while appearing in all 41 Quinnipiac games last season. The year prior, Skyler missed just one of the team’s 42 games.

Perhaps some part of Rod’s ironman gene was passed down to Skyler.

“I’m not in the gym with him too much anymore, but yeah, he’s been super helpful just being able to talk to throughout the year,” Skyler said. “He watches all of my games and he’ll pick them apart a little bit, but it’s constructive criticism so it’s good.”

Following the national championship with Quinnipiac, Skyler earned a professional tryout with the Checkers and turned it into an AHL contract. He’ll be just a few hours drive from home.

“It wasn’t something that I was necessarily looking to do because of home, but it worked out that way and it’s just kind of a bonus,” Skyler said. “It’s a great organization and it’s a great city.”

Skyler was a sixth-round pick by the Edmonton Oilers in 2017, but didn’t sign with them and became a free agent.

He’s yet to appear in a game for the Checkers, but Skyler said being around the team was still a valuable experience.

“It was really a good learning experience for me and I’m super glad that I was able to do that and take it into the summer and kind of see what I need to do to play at that level,” he said.

Skyler also said he and his father still skate together “once in a while”, so they certainly aren’t adversaries despite now being a part of different NHL organizations.

But if Skyler one day makes it to the NHL and plays against Rod, there certainly won’t be any fatherly advice like this for that night:

“Usually if you work your tail off, then at the end of the day, you can kind of look at the results,” Skyler said.