![\"Carolina](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0526-spt-col-Cowan-2026-1-1.jpg\")
Carolina Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind\u2019Amour speaks to his players during third period against the Canadiens in Montreal on March 24. John Mahoney \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\nThe two coaches in the NHL Eastern Conference final \u2014 the Canadiens\u2019 Martin St. Louis and the Carolina Hurricanes\u2019 Rod Brind\u2019Amour \u2014 have a lot in common.<\/p>\n
St. Louis, 50, played 16 seasons in the NHL and won the Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004. Brind\u2019Amour, 55, played 20 seasons in the NHL and won the Stanley Cup with the Hurricanes in 2006.<\/p>\n
Both remain in fantastic shape \u2014 Brind\u2019Amour earned the nickname \u201cRod the Bod\u201d as a player \u2014 and look like they could still play.<\/p>\n
St. Louis earned US$57.56 million during his playing career, while Brind\u2019Amour earned US$50.86 million. <\/p>\n
Both are financially secure and don\u2019t need the jobs they hold. But it\u2019s a passion for the game that keeps them involved.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love what I\u2019m doing, and I\u2019ll do it till somebody tells me I can\u2019t do it anymore,\u201d St. Louis said during this playoff run. \u201cI love hockey, but I have a life outside hockey. So I\u2019ll go watch my\u00a0kids\u00a0play (if he gets fired). I\u2019m good with that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
St. Louis and Brind\u2019Amour don\u2019t have the pressure of needing their jobs, which can be a big bonus. They are both modern-day coaches and can relate to young players, which is why they have had success in today\u2019s NHL.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, he\u2019s a very intense coach, and you can see that behind the bench,\u201d Hurricanes forward Jordan Martinook said about Brind\u2019Amour. \u201cBut he\u2019s just a nice guy. I can attest to it, and I\u2019m sure Jaccob (Slavin) can, as we\u2019ve gotten kind of older here and we start families. I think I saw a clip yesterday of (Slavin\u2019s) son out there (on the ice) and (Brind\u2019Amour\u2019s) passing with him and stuff.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe obviously brought in the family culture that we have here,\u201d Martinook added. \u201cHe treats us all like we\u2019re part of his family, and that\u2019s a big thing about our team. We say that we\u2019re a family, and I think when we start bringing our kids in and they\u2019re saying hi to your coach and playing hockey with your coach, it\u2019s pretty cool. We\u2019ve been with him for a long time, so it\u2019s just kind of second nature that we have easy conversations with him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sounds a lot like St. Louis.<\/p>\n
A big advantage Brind\u2019Amour has over St. Louis is that he has been with his team much longer, and it has shown, as the Hurricanes took a 2-1 series lead into Game 4 Wednesday at the Bell Centre (8 p.m., CBC, SN, TVA Sports). The Hurricanes have made the playoffs in all eight seasons with Brind\u2019Amour as their coach and are in the conference final for the third time in four years.<\/p>\n
The Hurricanes play a very mature and connected game and will shoot the puck from anywhere, while the Canadiens play more of a puck-possession game. The Hurricanes lost Game 1 to the Canadiens 6-2 following an almost 12-day break after sweeping their first two series, but outshot Montreal 65-25 over the next two games, winning both 3-2 in overtime.<\/p>\n
Heading into Game 4, the Hurricanes had a 10-1 record in the playoffs, while the Canadiens were 9-8.<\/p>\n
St. Louis realizes the Canadiens \u2014 the youngest team in the playoffs \u2014 need to find more balance between puck possession and dumping pucks into the offensive zone and retrieving them if they want to beat the Hurricanes. That\u2019s easier said than done against an experienced team that doesn\u2019t give the opposition much time and space anywhere on the ice.<\/p>\n
The winner of this series will face Vegas and old-school coach John Tortorella in the Stanley Cup final after the Golden Knights swept the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference final.<\/p>\n
Carolina Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind\u2019Amour speaks to his players during third period against the Canadiens in Montreal on March 24. John Mahoney \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\n
Tortorella coached St. Louis for seven seasons in Tampa and they won the Stanley Cup together in 2004. Tortorella was one of the speakers when the Lightning retired St. Louis\u2019s No. 26 in 2017.<\/p>\n
\u201cMarty was a pain in the ass to coach,\u201d Tortorella said in that speech. <\/a>\u201cHe was\u00a0stubborn, he was convicted, he had questions upon questions. \u2026 Question upon question about trying to find a better way to do it. Find a better way to beat that team, to beat that opponent, that player.\u201d<\/p>\n St. Louis was a coach in the making at the time. <\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a man that has been told no so many times early in his career,\u201d Tortorella added in that speech. \u201cNo, you\u2019re not good enough. No, you\u2019re too small. Fourth-line player, back to the minors, waived out. All the things that went on with him. What I respect most about him \u2014 and this is probably, I guess, the end of the game for him with his number being retired here \u2014 but he\u2019ll never leave the game because it\u2019s such a great\u00a0story. Such a great\u00a0story for all walks of life to delve into when you have a dream. Not just in hockey, but in business, in all walks of life. Read what happened with him, how he went about his business and it is just unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n St. Louis and Brind\u2019Amour continue to be great stories.<\/p>\n