RALEIGH Duncan Keith Jersey , N.C. (AP) Rod Brind’Amour came to Carolina in 2000 and never left.He worked his way up the Carolina Hurricanes‘ organizational ladder from key trade acquisition to captain of a Stanley Cup-winning team to the front office to assistant coach and, now, head coach. Along the way, he’s become so blended into the fabric of the community that he coached his son’s T-ball team in his spare time without drawing much attention.When he was introduced last month as Bill Peters’ successor, the Ottawa native referred to Raleigh as ”my town.””Obviously, I’ve been here a long time. My wife’s from here, we’ve got our families here,” Brind’Amour said. ”The organization means something to me, and wearing the crest, it’s special, and so I don’t envision myself being in the hockey world with anyone else. That’s kind of what I meant by it.”I bleed Hurricane red,” he added.With the NHL’s free agency period starting Sunday, Brind’Amour and the Hurricanes have something unique to sell – their new coach’s loyalty to the club and the city http://www.officialblackhawksproshop.com/authentic-adidas-gustav-forsling-jersey , and the intimate connection between the team and one of the league’s smallest markets – one that is starving for a winner. Carolina has the NHL’s longest active playoff drought, missing the postseason for nine consecutive years, and has made it only once since Brind’Amour hoisted the Cup in 2006.Brind’Amour, who was traded here 18 years ago by the Philadelphia Flyers in the Keith Primeau deal, holds a rare position among his peers in the coaching fraternity as one of only 20 active coaches in North America’s four major professional sports who played for the team he now coaches.”It’s special, and I think the attraction for me is that I believe in this group. … If we can just add the right pieces, I think we can be competitive,” Brind’Amour said. ”And I’ve been here when it was a great market, and we were good and had the support, so I know we can regain that.”None of those 20 coaches have continuously been with their franchise as long as Brind’Amour. The closest comparison might be Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell, who spent his childhood in that city while his father worked in the team’s front office and has been with the club since 2007. After finishing his playing career in 2011, he moved into the front office and took over as manager in 2015 following Ron Roenicke’s midseason firing.”Growing up here and being a fan of the Brewers, and just living here my whole life John Hayden Jersey , the connection to the organization obviously means a lot,” Counsell said. ”It helps you understand the organization just because you’ve been a part of it and known it for a while. It helps you know the history; it helps you know the people. … I feel a responsibility to baseball in this state and in this city. I take that seriously.”In addition to Brind’Amour, only three other current coaches or managers have won championships while playing for those teams: Los Angeles Lakers coach Luke Walton won two titles as a forward in the 2000s, Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett was a backup quarterback on two Super Bowl-winning teams in the 1990s, and Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora was part of that club’s World Series-winning team in 2007.Raleigh’s small-town feel also affords Brind’Amour the chance to be a normal father. In a scene that might be hard to imagine in one of hockey’s pressure-cooker cities, Brind’Amour spent the spring coaching first base as an assistant for his son’s T-ball team in the suburb of Wake Forest.The team’s head coach, Matt Greene, described Brind’Amour as ”an active, involved dad” and said watching him with the young players was like ”watching the magic work.”He was talking to the kids about baseball … (and) the parents are talking about hockey, (with the parents telling him) `I’ve got my son signed up for hockey next spring,”’ Greene said. ”But Rod was talking to the kid, and putting it more on the kids. Not that Rod was the star, but the kid was the star in baseball.”Brind’Amour Authentic Jonathan Toews Jersey , the son-in-law of former North Carolina State basketball player and ex-UNC Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach, connected with the Raleigh community pretty quickly after his 2000 arrival, and he hopes the current players can do the same.”We’re a younger team now, but as they get older … they’re going to see that this is a great place to raise a family,” he said. ”The people here are just friendly, they’re down-to-earth and it’s a comforting type of lifestyle. At the end of the day, we all try to be a champion and we want to be a Stanley Cup champion, but there’s other parts of life, too, that are important.”Being a hockey player, being successful, you’ve got to feel good about where you live,” he added. ”We’ve checked that part off. Now we’ve just got to get the hockey part dialed in.”—AP freelance writer Charles Gardner in Milwaukee contributed to this report. LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Toronto Maple Leafs acquired defenseman Jake Muzzin from the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night for a first-round pick and two prospects Blake Comeau Jersey Womens , bolstering their blue line with a Stanley Cup-winning veteran.Los Angeles gets forward Carl Grundstrom and the rights to unsigned defenseman Sean Durzi in the deal, along with a first-round pick in 2019.Muzzin is a steady veteran defenseman signed through next season at a salary cap hit of $4 million. The blue line has been Toronto’s biggest weakness this season, and Muzzin could be a top-four defenseman for the Leafs, perhaps fitting in their top pairing with Morgan Rielly.“The key is his ability to play at the top end of our defense, play in all situations, play against the other team’s top players,” Toronto general manager Kyle Dubas said. “He’s proven himself over a good career now to be able to move the puck, to excel at playing against high-quality competition and to contribute offensively.”The 29-year-old Muzzin has four goals and 17 assists in 50 games this season, struggling at times along with his teammates in the last-place Kings’ miserable year.“I was a little shocked to get the phone call,” Muzzin said. “You hear rumblings and rumors and stuff like that and you just continue on with your ways until it actually happens and everything sinks in. Very excited to join Toronto.”His departure is the biggest sign yet that general manager Rob Blake is willing to reboot the roster of a club with just one playoff victory in the past four seasons since its second Stanley Cup title.The Kings (20-26-4) sit last in the Western Conference with 44 points from 50 games.“I think we’re in a position where we’re looking up every day at the standings,” Blake said. “We’re not happy about where we are. We’re not comfortable with where we are, and now we have to make decisions for the best of the organization going forward.”After going undrafted in 2009 and signing with Los Angeles as a free agent, Muzzin played his way into a steady NHL career with the Kings. He was a key contributor during their run to the 2014 title Patrick Kane Jersey , scoring 12 points in 26 playoff games.Muzzin struggled through the 2016-17 season with 28 points and a minus-21 rating, but he bounced back last season with a career-high 42 points.Blake thinks Muzzin will handle the transition to the Eastern Conference easily after a career in the West.“I think he’s an elite defenseman,” Blake said. “He’s going to bring the physical aspect, but he has poise and patience to make plays. I think the adjustment will come naturally for him because he is a top defenseman.”Grundstrom, 21, was a second-round pick in 2016 and has 29 points in 42 games with Toronto’s AHL affiliate this season. The 20-year-old Durzi, a second-round pick last year, has 28 points in 26 games this season in the Ontario Hockey League. Blake said the Kings like Durzi’s offensive abilities.