Where do things stand in Hurricanes' search for GM, head coach?

The Carolina Hurricanes have two verified candidates for the head-coaching job, and neither is a surprise.

Canes assistant coach Rod Brind’Amour says he wants to be considered, and he is.

Mike Vellucci, the head coach of the Charlotte Checkers in the AHL, also is in the mix, interim GM Don Waddell said Friday.

A week after Bill Peters resigned as coach, Waddell said there have been “20 or so” inquiries about the job opening. They started flowing in soon after Peters, the Canes’ coach the past four seasons, opted out of the final year of his contract to become the Calgary Flames coach.

The search for a general manager also continues and Waddell said a GM “ideally” would be hired before a decision was made on the coach. Waddell said there have been numerous phone calls and inquiries, and now three in-person interviews.

Waddell did not comment on a report by Elliotte Friedman, a hockey reporter for Canada’s Sportsnet, that Buffalo Sabres assistant GM Steve Greeley had a second interview this week.

Waddell said the coaching candidates run the gamut — former NHL head coaches, NHL assistants, AHL coaches, college coaches, junior hockey.

“There’s good coaches at every level,” he said. “We’re not going to interview them all but we’re doing a lot of background on a lot of people. We’re not going to interview 10 people but there’s nothing wrong with doing the background.”

Waddell, who has said he is not a candidate for the GM job, has been the point man for majority owner Tom Dundon. He handles the initial conversations — with candidates or their agents — and then turns it over to Dundon.

Waddell noted he had one agent call with three names, all clients, for the coaching position. He said he had to tell the agent, “We’re only hiring one guy, so give me your best guy.”

Brind’Amour is a “strong candidate” for the job, he said. He said Vellucci, who has the Checkers in the second round of the AHL’s Calder Cup playoffs, had a lengthy and successful run as a coach and GM in the Ontario Hockey League before coming to the Canes organization as an assistant GM.

“He’s doing a very good job in Charlotte, not only winning but developing our prospects,” he said.

Waddell said the Hurricanes were “digging in harder” in trying to hire a GM, noting it has to be explained to some candidates that it may not be a job in the tradition sense of most NHL GM jobs.

Dundon reassigned former GM Ron Francis in March, moving Francis to the position of president of hockey operations. That raised some eyebrows in the league. The new GM will report directly to Dundon, an inquisitive, forceful type who wants to be involved — and fully informed — in all facets and decision-making in the organization.

“You’ve seen this type of ownership in other sports but you haven’t seen it as much in hockey,” Waddell said. “Tom has said he bought a business and wants to learn about the business. Tom believes in a lot more collaboration in the process.

“I’ve been very open when I talk to potential GMs about the whole thing. There’s some traditionalists this job is not going to work for.”

Waddell said Francis has been helping in the planning for the NHL Entry Draft, to be held June 22-23 in Dallas. Francis, a Hockey Hall of Fame member whose jersey was retired by the Hurricanes, has been watching video of draft prospects, Waddell said.

Waddell confirmed a Friedman report that Francis has been working primarily at his home rather than PNC Arena, saying Francis made that request. Francis’ former office is being converted into a “war room,” Waddell said, with big-screen TVs and additional meeting space.

"He's available if needed," Waddell said.

This story was originally published April 27, 2018 at 6:04 PM with the headline "Where do things stand in Hurricanes' search for GM, head coach?."