Brind'Amour interested in Hurricanes' head coaching job

Carolina Hurricanes assistant coach Rod Brind'Amour has thrown his hat into the ring to become the team's next bench boss.

"If you never try, you'll never know," Brind'Amour told Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer. "The reason for saying 'why not?' is I've been doing it for eight years and I really believe I can help out one way or the other and see if I can put us over the hump."

Brind'Amour has been an assistant coach with the Hurricanes since 2011, serving under Kirk Muller and the recently departed Bill Peters, whose resignation made the head coaching job available.

Brind'Amour feels he learned a lot from Peters, and he's ready to take on the top job. Prior to becoming an assistant coach, the 47-year-old, who's under contract for one more season, spent one season as the director of player development.

"I don't think as an assistant I'm going to get any better or learn any more. So now's the time," Brind'Amour added. "They're going to find the best guy to do it, and if it's me, that's great, and if not I understand. But I felt like I could at least step up and see if it could happen.

"I think the attraction to me is you can really put your plan in place and decide how to pull all the strings. You decide the ice time. You decide who's playing or not, and in certain situations. That's the allure of it. They know I'm interested and we'll see where it goes."

Prior to entering the coaching ranks, Brind'Amour spent 10 seasons with the Hurricanes, captaining the franchise to its lone Stanley Cup championship in 2006.