The 2023 Hockey Hall of Fame class is set to be announced on Wednesday, June 21, and North Carolina residents are rightfully wondering if this will be the year local favorite Rod Brind’Amour is finally inducted.
The former Carolina Hurricanes star, who’s also the team’s current head coach, has been eligible for entry since 2013. But a decade later and his name remains outside the vaunted walls of 30 Yonge St. in Toronto — home of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
By comparing Brind’Amour’s stats and hockey resume to other Hall of Famers, BetCarolina.com, your home to North Carolina sports betting, has created a set of hypothetical odds to analyze his chances of making it in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Although we made this prop bet up, with momentum building for NC sports betting apps, hopefully there will be plenty of real odds available to wager on soon.
Will Brind’Amour Make 2023 Hockey Hall of Fame Class?
MORE: How to Bet on NHL Hockey
Odds Not In His Favor
After crunching the numbers, our data wizards put Rod Brind’Amour’s odds to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame at +370 — suggesting there’s just a 21.3% chance of that happening this year. Those are pretty high odds for someone with a career like Brind’Amour.
Ottawa-born, but British Columbia-raised, Brind’Amour was selected 9th overall by the St. Louis Blues in the 1988 NHL Entry Draft. After his brief stint with the Blues, he was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers in ’91, where he spent 8 seasons. Mid-way through the '99-00 season he was traded again to Carolina, where he would finish out his career. That excepting a seven-game stretch in the Swiss Hockey League during the 2004-05 lockout.
In his 20 plus years as an NHLer, Brind’Amour stacked up 452 goals and 732 assists, tallying 1184 total regular season points. He also appeared in 3 Stanley Cup Finals, winning one with the Hurricanes team he captained in 2006. Other hardware in Brind’Amour’s trophy room includes back-to-back Selke Trophies he nabbed in 2006 and 2007. The Frank J. Selke is awarded annually to the season’s best defensive forward.
Despite these accomplishments, Brind’Amour was only named an NHL All Star once, and never finished a season top ten in overall points. This has led HHOF detractors to suggest he was never truly “elite” during his time in the league. Instead, some see the notorious gym-rat — nicknamed “Rod the Bod” — as more of an iron-man who earned his stats largely through attrition.
Appearing in just three more games than Brind’Amour, Wayne Gretzky managed to rack up 1673 more points. Mind you, he is the greatest hockey player of all time.
Compared To His Peers
A fairer comparison might be three of Brind’Amour’s classmates from the ’88 draft. Selected first overall, Mike Modano had 1374 points in 1499 games played. The number 10 selection, Teemu Selanne, averaged over a point per game (1457 points in 1451 GP). Meanwhile, fourth-round draft pick Mark Recchi, bested them all with 1533 points in 1652 career games.
Modano, Selanne and Recchi are all Hall of Famers. Jeremy Roenick, who had over 1200 career points, was also drafted in ’88 and is yet to be inducted — but that likely has more to do with Roenick’s controversial and outspoken reputation.
Brind’Amour, on the other hand, is among the most admired and respected men within the world of hockey. And the legend of his time as an elite shut-down center has only grown in the wake of his success behind the bench. In his five seasons as head coach for the Carolina Hurricanes, Brind’Amour’s Canes have never missed the playoffs, and appeared twice in the Eastern Conference Finals. Rod also won the Jack Adams Award for coach of the year in 2021.
That impressive track record as a head coach may factor into the selection committee’s decision, especially in a weak year for newly eligible players. Outside of New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, there doesn’t appear to be an obvious first ballot Hall of Famer in 2023.
One thing’s for sure, if North Carolina sports fans have it their way, House Bill 347 will pass soon, and in 2024 we could all be betting on Brind’Amour’s Hurricanes to win the Stanley Cup with a DraftKings North Carolina promo code.
