He was the perfect counterpart to the Legion of Doom. While the teams of the 1990s were dominated by stars like John LeClair and Eric Lindros, Rod Brind'Amour held his own special place on those teams.
While he was never part of a line like the Legion of Doom, Brind'Amour personified Flyers hockey with a gritty style. He had the ability to play with skill when he needed to. He was an all-around player, capable of taking the ice in all situations. He was a warrior on the ice.
He was a leader. He was a talent. And he was a crucial part of the teams that helped define an era of Flyers hockey, including the team in 1997 that went all the way to the Stanley Cup Final.
When Brind'Amour's time came around, as captain of a Stanley Cup winning team in 2006, it was a deserving closing chapter in his career.
Brind'Amour will be honored on Monday prior to the game between the Flyers and Carolina Hurricanes, another of his former teams, as the newest member of the Flyers Hall of Fame.
Brind'Amour's career began with the St. Louis Blues in the 1989 Stanley Cup Playoffs. He played in five games, scoring two goals. In his rookie season in 1989-90, Brind'Amour scored 26 goals and added 35 assists for a 61-point season, good enough to finish fourth in Calder Trophy voting.
His second season with the Blues was also his last. He scored 17 goals and had 49 points in the 1990-91 campaign.
Following that season, Brind'Amour was traded from St. Louis to Philadelphia with Dan Quinn for Ron Sutter and Murray Baron. That started a nine-year career in Orange and Black.
In seven of his eight full seasons with the Flyers, Brind'Amour scored at least 20 goals and had at least 70 points in six seasons. In 1992-93, he posted a career-high 37 goals. The following season, in 1993-94, he posted a career-high 62 assists and 97 points.
In the Flyers run to the Stanley Cup Final, Brind'Amour scored 27 goals and added 32 assists in the regular season for 59 points, but took things to another level in the playoffs, scoring 13 goals and picking up 21 points in 19 games.
One of Brind'Amour's biggest records in Flyers history is his Iron Man streak. From the 1993-94 season through the 1998-99 season, Brind'Amour didn't miss a game, playing in 484 consecutive games. It is a Flyers record that still stands.
In 1999-2000, Brind'Amour's streak was snapped and he only appeared in 12 games with the Flyers before being traded to the Carolina Hurricanes for Keith Primeau. The trade seemed like a win-win. The Hurricanes got a pure leader for a young team looking to make a run at a Stanley Cup, while Primeau emerged as a captain of the Flyers and a playoff hero of sorts through the 2004 season.
Brind'Amour scored at least 15 goals in six of his eight full seasons in Carolina. His most memorable season there is the 2005-06 season. Returning from the NHL lockout, Brind'Amour scored 31 goals and had 70 points in the regular season before scoring 12 goals and picking up 18 points in the Hurricanes Stanley Cup run. Brind'Amour, who was the captain of that team, was the first to hoist the Stanley Cup, finally claiming hockey's top prize after 16 NHL seasons.
Brind'Amour played four more seasons in the NHL, retiring after the 2009-10 season.
In his Flyers career, Brind'Amour scored 235 goals and added 366 assists for 601 total points in . In the playoffs, he scored 24 goals and added 27 assists for 51 points in five different playoffs runs with the Orange and Black.
Brind'Amour finished his NHL career with 452 goals, 732 assists and 1,184 points in 1,484 career games. He was also award the Frank J. Selke Trophy twice in his career in 2006 and 2007.
Following his career, Brind'Amour joined the Hurricanes coaching staff as an assistant coach, where he still serves today.
His No. 17 is retired by the Hurricanes as well.
Ultimately, Brind'Amour will be remembered for his fiery passion for the game, the gritty player who eventually climbed the mountain of becoming a champion.
He was a fan favorite. He was a tough player who still had the ability to score at will. He seemed to deliver night in and night out because his own work ethic wouldn't allow him to settle for anything less than the best he could give. His best often produced results.
So as his two longtime teams face-off, it is only fitting the Brind'Amour, who has already been honored as a great part of Hurricanes history, takes his place with the Flyers greats as well. After all, he helped define an era of Flyers hockey as much as his predecessors — 2014-15 inductees Lindros, LeClair and Eric Desjardins — did.
Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.
