"They're morons": Hurricanes HC Rod Brind'Amour bluntly calls out media for Jalen Chatfield 'drama'

Regarded as one of the better bench bosses in the National Hockey League, Carolina Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind'Amour pulled no punches about what he thought was too much outcry during their game against the Washington Capitals.

During the game last week, Hurricanes defenseman Jalen Chatfield went viral for his bout against Capitals forward Connor McMichael at Lenovo Center:

Brind'Amour unleashed his anger at unnamed media members following practice on Monday, who he felt made too much of an issue of the fight, ahead of their rematch later this week.

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

“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," he continued. "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.”

The Hurricanes will face the Capitals on Thursday night at Capital One Arena; it will be Washington's first game since Alex Ovechkin overtook Wayne Gretzky for the top spot on the NHL goals scored list with 895.

Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery had a different view of the incident vs Hurricanes

Capitals coach Spencer Carbery had a different view of things, expressing that the on-ice officials did a poor job of policing the situation and enforcing player safety.

"There were just a few plays before (the Chatfield takedown) that, you know ... player safety is a big thing," Carbery said. "Guys are so good at policing each other on what's dangerous or what's not and there were a few dangerous plays that start to get... you can feel the temperature raising."

"There's a couple subtle instances in that game, when the game is the score that it is, that's where the refs, if they miss something, that's where players start to police themselves and go, look, this went on here. I feel like player safety becomes an issue and obviously guys are going to stick up for one another."

Despite the fight, Chatfield did not face any disciplinary actions from the NHL Department of Player Safety.

There's a real chance that the two teams could meet one another at some point in the Stanley Cup Playoffs this spring, adding to the intrigue of Thursday's game.