Hurricanes’ Rod Brind’Amour calls media ‘morons’ for causing drama over Jalen Chatfield incident

One of the more tenured coaches in the NHL is sounding off on the criticism of one of his players.

When speaking to the media on Monday, Carolina Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour was very blunt about how he felt about the public outcry after Hurricanes forward Jalen Chatfield was judged for the way he took down Washington Capitals forward Connor McMichael in a fight last week.

“The media was the one who made drama out of it,” Brind’Amour said. “And they’re morons, typically.”

The topic of Chatfield arose when the former Hurricanes captain was asked whether there would be any carryover animosity from last week’s clash between the Metropolitan Division rivals when they meet in D.C. this Thursday.

Chatfield and McMichael dropped the gloves in a game in Raleigh last Wednesday, with Chatfield getting the “win” after throwing McMichael down to the ice.

Some fans believed Chatfield should’ve been suspended for the incident. Yet, Brind’Amour, who had a little bit of a mean streak in his playing days, stated that what Chatfield did was nothing new to him.

“If you’re going to say what happened at the end was anything more than what I’ve seen a thousand times before, you don’t know what you’re talking about. … Quit making something out of what isn’t, because that’s not a fair characterization of our player and that’s what bothers me on the whole thing. Do your homework.”

Brind’Amour cited a fight that occurred the Saturday prior between Detroit Red Wings forward Auston Watson and Boston Bruins forward Jakub Lauko. Watson seemed to have also yanked Lauko down to the ice to end the fray.

“Go look at the game exactly before – the Boston-Detroit game – two really good heavyweights going at it and watch how that fight ends. It’s a takedown, I’m sorry.”

Chatfield received no supplementary discipline as a result of the fisticuffs. Both he and McMichael received misconducts along with the fighting majors.

The Capitals (49-19-9) sit first in the Metropolitan Division, and the Eastern Conference, 11 points ahead of the second-place Hurricanes (46-26-4).