Rod Brind’Amour’s former Flyers teammates are unanimous that he belongs in the Hall of Fame: ‘Long overdue’

As Tom Petty would say, “the waiting is the hardest part.”

Nothing can be more synonymous for Rod Brind’Amour. He hung his skates up 14 years ago after producing 1,184 points in 1,484 NHL games, winning the Selke Trophy as the NHL’s top defensive forward twice, and captaining the Carolina Hurricanes to a Stanley Cup.

It’s shocking, but Brind‘Amour is still waiting.

“Every day you see one more card,” Petty sang. For Brind‘Amour, it’s seeing one more player get the call before him. Maybe it‘s time to “take it on faith” after watching fellow former Flyer Jeremy Roenick inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame last week. Roenick is ranked 48th all-time in points while Brind‘Amour is No. 54 on the list. Of the 10 guys above Brind’Amour not in hockey’s hallowed halls, six are future locks still playing, including former Flyer Jaromir Jagr, while Joe Thornton, another lock, is not eligible until this June. Patrick Marleau, Vincent Damphousse, and Bernie Nicholls are the only other three above Brind’Amour without the distinction.

» READ MORE: Q&A: Former Flyer Jeremy Roenick professes his love for Philly ahead of his Hall of Fame induction: ‘We just matched’

His former Flyers teammate Chris Therien probably said it best: “Long overdue.”

Brind’Amour’s career was bookended outside Philadelphia — he played two seasons with the St. Louis Blues after he was drafted ninth overall in 1988 and finished it with nine-plus seasons in Raleigh, N.C., with the Hurricanes, where he earned his NHL hardware — but it was in Philly in the 1990s where he became a household name.

“He was just like a dog on a bone,” said Mark Recchi, who played with Brind’Amour on the Flyers and won the Cup with him in Carolina. “He was relentless. He never stopped. He was always committed to just, every shift, it was 100%, and he was giving everything. He just had a commitment. ... Whether it was practice, gym, whatever that, to me, always stands out. He just had a huge commitment.”

Commitment and dedication to his craft — Therien called it “almost psychotic in a lot of ways” — drove Brind’Amour then, and now as a coach for the Hurricanes. It’s fair to say “intense” is probably a good word for him too, because that was how he went about his business on and off the ice.

“The first thing that comes to mind with Roddy is his commitment to being the best player that he could be,” said Flyers president Keith Jones, who played a season-and-a-half with Brind’Amour. “His awareness of physical fitness and his drive to be as strong as he possibly could be was really second to none. He set the bar high for every teammate that he played with, because of his drive to maximize his body so he could be the best player on the ice.”

Brind’Amour’s fitness is a thing of legend. After all, one does not get the nickname “Rod the Bod” without earning it.

Back in the day, he was known to hit the gym before — and after — games. There are stories that the gym at Michigan State, where Brind’Amour played a freshman season, was locked so he could not work out. Jones recalls that the old facilities in Voorhees had the same treatment to ensure a full day off for everyone.

» READ MORE: Chase Utley, Jason Kelce and 8 other Philly athletes who could make the Hall of Fame

“I do have a good workout story on the track with Rod,” Therien said with a laugh. “Once we were doing 400 meters, a full time around the track, right? And Rod would go every single one full speed, and I was a bigger guy, I wasn’t born a runner, but I can move.

“I remember we did four 400s and the last 400 I’m like, I’m just going to go full speed [and] I’m in good shape. And I beat Rod, but he beat me the first three. So I started doing a big dance. And he lost his marbles on me so bad because he’s like, ‘Yeah, you beat me the last one, but you didn’t beat me the first three.’ Doesn’t matter, buddy. Doesn’t matter. I won, fair and square.”

That intensity and determination to be elite powered Brind’Amour, now 54, throughout his hockey career. A “guy that maximized every ounce of every day,” according to Jones, to be the best NHL player he could be, the Ontario-born, British Columbia-raised center was a self-made star.

On a team that included names like Eric Lindros, John LeClair, Recchi, and Mikael Renberg, Brind’Amour was tasked with keeping the opposition’s top players at bay. But what impressed his teammates the most was not only his ability to be a star-stopper but to put points on the board, too.

“That just shows you how good a player he was. He’s a guy who played against top lines every night and had that responsibility,” Recchi said. “You talk about [former Boston Bruins forward and six-time Selke winner] Patrice Bergeron and guys like that, they were good offensive players. But because they played against top lines every night, and they’re so good defensively and so responsible every night and every day, that you just kind of forget about how good offensively they were as well.”

A smart and creative playmaker whose “shot wasn’t going to blow you away, even with the strength that he had,” according to Jones, Brind’Amour averaged almost a point a game with the Flyers. He registered 601 points (235 goals, 366 assists) in 633 regular-season games after being acquired with Dan Quinn from the Blues for Murray Baron and Ron Sutter in September 1991.

» READ MORE: Ranking the Flyers' 50 greatest players ever

In each of nine full seasons with the Flyers, he finished in the top four on the team in points, including six seasons of over 70 points and a career-high 97 in 1993-94. The first year, he led the team in goals (33), assists (44), points (77), and shorthanded goals (four) while racking up 100 penalty minutes. A guy who was “never going to be intimidated,” Brind’Amour also put up 1,100 penalty minutes in his 20-season career, including 563 with the Flyers.

“He was dedicated to the sport,” Therien said. ”Just the most dedicated hockey player and person I’ve seen to the sport of hockey in my entire career, and to be honest, it’s not even close. There’s no close second.”

Across his tenure with the Flyers, Brind’Amour played in five postseasons, culminating in a Stanley Cup Final appearance in 1997. In 57 playoff games, he added another 51 points (24 goals, 27 assists), including two shorthanded goals in the 1997 Eastern Conference quarterfinals series clincher against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Those goals, by the way, came during the same penalty kill.

A guy who once said he “bled orange and black,” Brind’Amour was traded in January 2000 to the Hurricanes in the deal that brought Keith Primeau to the Flyers. Recchi recalls Brind’Amour being quite emotional that day. Therien said it was a shock and he remembered Brind’Amour didn’t say goodbye — but said it was more because he had a game to play than anything else.

“The day I got traded from Philadelphia was one of the worst days of my career,” Brind’Amour said in 2011.

Inducted into the Flyers Hall of Fame in 2015, the former alternate captain still ranks ninth on the franchise’s all-time assist list, and eighth in shorthanded goals (18). And his 0.95 points-per-game with the Flyers ranks behind only eight players, four of whom, including Recchi, are in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Brind’Amour also holds the honor of being a bit of an iron man with the Flyers; his 484 consecutive games played, at the time, was the active record in the NHL. Then there’s his success as a coach, as Brind’Amour’s career .667 points percentage (291-134-44) is the best all-time among coaches to have coached at least 250 games.

Four years before his Flyers induction, and not long after he retired following the 2009-10 season, the Hurricanes hung Brind’Amour’s No. 17 from the then-named RBC Center rafters. The ceremony took place before a matchup against the Flyers and Jones was in attendance as a member of the Flyers’ broadcast crew.

“It was one of the best speeches I’ve ever heard,” he recalled. “I was kind of surprised and taken aback by it because when I played with him that’s not something that I would have ever anticipated. And it was from the heart, but if you listen to it, and you were sitting on either bench you wanted to jump up and get on the ice right away. So it was really neat to see him be able to express it and if he does get in the Hall of Fame, his speech will be awesome.”

After years of waiting, surely, no one can wait for that. Hopefully in June, he’ll get a chance to start writing it.