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Years ago, this writer interviewed Paul Maurice when he was between NHL coaching jobs and was working as bench boss for the AHL’s Toronto Marlies.
Maurice was the same man as he is today – a wry, eloquent teacher and a stern taskmaster who gets the most out of his players.
This week, the defending Stanley Cup-champion Florida Panthers gave Maurice a contract extension, underscoring his status as one of the best NHL coaches to ever do it.
It isn’t just Maurice’s longevity that makes him an all-time coaching great – although it’s definitely a contributing factor.
The 57-year-old has been coaching in the NHL since November 1995 – an eternity in the coaching business. Maurice also sits fourth among all NHL coaches in regular-season wins, with 873. He’s not likely to catch living legend Scotty Bowman (1,244 wins), but he is likely to beat Barry Trotz (914) and Joel Quenneville (969) by the time his career is through.
But what makes Maurice particularly special is his persona and his ability to motivate players without stepping on their necks the way some harsher coaches are wont to do. (We’ll let you guess who we’re talking about here.)
Maurice isn’t doing things because his ego dictates and demands what his players should do. Indeed, he was a rare breed in that he stepped away from a perfectly good team as he did as the Winnipeg Jets coach in December 2021. He fell on his own sword in that particular case, believing he’d done all he could to turn the Jets into a bona fide Cup front-runner. You’ll find few coaches willing to give up job security because they’ve hit a crossroads with their team, but that’s exactly what happened with Maurice in Winnipeg.
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That selflessness is part of the reason Panthers GM Bill Zito hired Maurice in 2022. Zito was also at a turning point with his team, but he reached out to Maurice because he knew Maurice (a) knew his Xs-and-Os, (b) was always able to adapt to the modern type of player and (c) was still hungry to win it all. Maurice turned out to be a perfect fit in Florida, and the Panthers rewarded his faith in them by delivering his first of what could turn out to be multiple Cups.
Maurice easily could’ve pulled the chute on his coaching career and moved full-time into broadcasting long ago. He would’ve been just as successful in that field as he’s been as a coach. But when he did resign from the Jets, we knew (and said at the time) that it wouldn’t be long before he was coaching again. If anyone is a hockey lifer, it’s him, and we’re confident he will be behind one team’s bench or another for well into the next decade.
You wind up rooting for Maurice for the same reasons you root for any one player or management member – you see that he treats everyone he encounters with respect and dignity. He knows how fortunate he’s been to have been given the reins of a team when he was just 28 years old, and he’s behaved like someone thankful for every opportunity he’s been given since then.
Maurice is now cemented as the Panthers’ coach for the foreseeable future, and while the coaching industry is about as fickle as it gets, you’d best believe he will get another coaching job once his time ends in Florida.
Some coaches get one kick at the can at the NHL level, and you never hear from them again. Other coaches – a select few – can work in any market and find enough success to sustain them over the years and decades. Maurice is clearly one of those select few.
Maurice is easily one of the best in his profession, and everything he does from this point on is gravy for a grateful icon.
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