There was much made about the brief conversation between head coaches Rod Brind’Amour and Paul Maurice following Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final. The Florida Panthers beat the Carolina Hurricanes in five games to advance to the Stanely Cup Finals.
Both coaches shook one another’s hands immediately after the series came to a close, but questions lingered about what was said. As Maurice would later explain, he was telling Brind’Amour that he thinks traditional handshakes following a playoff series should involve only the players, rather than coaches and the training staff.
Rod Brind’Amour Pushes Back About Handshake Protocol With Paul Maurice
Brind’Amour — the head coach of the Hurricanes — was a special guest of the “Cam & Strick” podcast and was specifically asked about his conversation with Maurice.
“He spelled it out, 100 percent,” Brind’Amour told Andy Strickland. “He said I don’t want to get in the line because it’s about the players. I totally agree with that, like it is about the players. No s***. We’re just sitting back there, we don’t participate. I’m not out there blocking shots and getting my head beat in. I get it. I get his perspective on that.”
Rod Brind’Amour up on all platforms. Don’t miss expect him to ever skip the handshake line again! @CamandStrick pic.twitter.com/s93B5ZdLVi
— Andy Strickland (@andystrickland) June 10, 2025
Brind’Amour temporarily agreed with Maurice about not going in the handshake line and keeping it reserved for the players, then reversed course. It doesn’t plan to sit it out again.
Brind’Amour said: “I think about it now and I was asked about it at the end of the year presser here, and I’m like, ‘I should have gone in the line because that’s what I wanted to do and it’s about just showing respect.’ It has nothing to do with anything, but you know what? We’re in there with the players. I don’t care what you say, even though I’m not out there, we invested in it. I care about these guys. It’s about respect, that’s it.
“I’m a grown man here and I’ll make my own decisions. I adhered to him because he had won and I felt like they won and they get the right to do it, but now that I take a step back and I’ve had time to think about it, that’s not going to happen again.”
Brind’Amour, who just completed his seventh season as head coach in Carolina, has guided the Hurricanes to a playoff berth every year since taking the reins in 2018. His career record as Carolina’s bench boss s 325-160-49.
The Hurricanes have won at least one playoff series in each of those seasons, including a spot in this year’s Eastern Conference Final for the second time in the last three seasons after they defeated both the New Jersey Devils and the Washington Capitals.
