• Associated Press

May 2, 2024, 03:21 PM ET

RALEIGH, N.C. — Carolina Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said Thursday he feels “really good” that he will reach a new contract with the team, mirroring optimism from president and general manager Don Waddell a day earlier.

Brind’Amour – considered by many the face of the franchise with his long-running ties here that include being the captain of the 2006 Stanley Cup winner – is in the final year of a deal reached in 2021. His status has become a talking point around the league with multiple jobs open as Carolina prepares to face the New York Rangers in the second round of the NHL playoffs.

“Yeah, I had a great conversation yesterday with Don, and then again this morning,” Brind’Amour said. “I feel really good that we’ll figure it out quickly. Yeah, I’m not concerned.”

That came a day after Waddell said he was “very confident” that the two sides would reach a deal.

“We talk daily about it,” Waddell said in a Zoom call with reporters following the team’s first-round series win against the New York Islanders. “I feel very confident as I’ve said before that this deal will get done. Rod wants to be a Hurricane for life.”

In an interview earlier this week with The News and Observer of Raleigh, team owner Tom Dundon said he thought the two sides were “just getting through the last little stuff.”

Brind’Amour, 53, arrived in Raleigh in a January 2000 trade from Philadelphia and played here until his retirement in 2010. He then spent seven seasons as an assistant coach before taking over as a first-time head coach in 2018.

At the time, he proclaimed “I bleed Hurricane red” – then went about turning Carolina into a perennial winner.

Brind’Amour is 6-for-6 in getting the Hurricanes to the playoffs after the franchise went nine years without a postseason berth. Carolina has twice reached the Eastern Conference Final in the past five seasons and ranked second in the NHL over the last four combined regular seasons in points and points percentage behind only Boston.

Tuesday’s Game 5 win to close out the Islanders made Carolina the first team to win at least one series in six straight postseasons since Detroit did it from 1995-2000. Carolina entered the playoffs as the favorite to win the Stanley Cup according to ,

Carolina center Sebastian Aho shrugged off any idea Thursday of Brind’Amour’s status being a distraction.

“No, Roddy’s coaching us this year,” Aho said. “I’m sure they’ll figure it out.”

Also on Thursday, the Hurricanes addressed at least one organizational need by reaching a three-year affiliation agreement with the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League. Chicago had been Carolina’s AHL affiliate from 2020-23 before opting to become an independent after that deal ended.

The new agreement will give the Hurricanes oversight of the Wolves’ hockey operations decisions along with a place to develop rising prospects. The Wolves won the Calder Cup in 2022 with a team featuring current Hurricanes players such as defenseman Jalen Chatfield, forwards Stefan Noesen and Jack Drury, and goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov.

Since parting ways with Chicago, Carolina had parked prospects with teams in the AHL and ECHL.