Three years ago, Andrew Brunette wasn’t even in coaching. A year ago, he still wasn’t quite sure whether being a head coach was even what he wanted.
When he took over as the interim coach of the Florida Panthers in the first month of the 2021-22 NHL season, he took the same wait-and-see approach the Panthers did. It was a big ask to step in for Joel Quenneville and take over the reins of the best team in the NHL — Quenneville, with his three Stanley Cups, was hard to replace and the Panthers still hadn’t lost — and Brunette and Florida were open to the idea he might just be a placeholder until Bill Zito found a long-term solution.
Even though it technically never became anything more than temporary, Brunette stayed in charge for the full season, guided the Panthers to their first Presidents’ Trophy and their first postseason series victory since the 1996 Stanley Cup playoffs, and even became a finalist for the Jack Adams Award.
