The Carolina Hurricanes won Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final, becoming Stanley Cup champions. For head coach Rod Brind’Amour, he got to lift the Cup again, 20-years after lifting it for the first time.
Brind’Amour was the captain of the 2006 Hurricanes when he last won the Stanley Cup. While Rod the Bod was busy winning a title, now Hurricanes GM Eric Tulsky was analyzing the synthesis of cadmium-free nanocrystals for clinical applications. His career in the NHL began with a blog, then independent consulting jobs, before being hired full-time to study analytics by the Hurricanes in 2015. He became the assistant general manager in 2021 and then got the general manager job in 2024.
Tulsky is the nerd, focused on contracts and numbers. Brind’Amour is the muscle, spending his time with the guys in the gym and on the ice. The difference between the two is stark, as noted by Jordan Martinook, according to Greg Wyshynski of ESPN.
“It feels like they’re yin and yang, right?” Martinook said. “But when people get married, what do they usually say? Opposites attract. Maybe that’s what we needed. The opposite guys. And then they create magic.”
The two trusted each other, and they have now built a champion.
“I do think they balance each other out quite well, and that’s the best part about it. Tulsky is great with numbers. Roddy’s been here coaching, and had been here playing,” Seth Jarvis added. “Now, no disrespect to Eric, but I do think Roddy could snap him in half if he wanted to. I’m not saying he would. But he could.”
At the end of the day, Tulsky and Brind’Amour have one similar drive: to be aggressive and win.
“Rod has the team playing very aggressive on the ice. We want to be aggressive off the ice, too,” the general manager said.
They can now celebrate their victory. Further, Carolina is in a great spot to keep it going. Tulsky has done amazing work with the salary cap. The team has just three unrestricted free agents and on restrcitre free agent. They also have over $12 million in cap space, four first-round picks in the next three years, and the core of the team under contract well into the future. This odd couple partnership could be at the beginning of multiple Stanley Cup victories.
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