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Jim Rassol-Imagn Pictures
Years in the past, this author interviewed Paul Maurice when he was between NHL teaching jobs and was working as bench boss for the AHL’s Toronto Marlies.
Maurice was the identical man as he’s at this time – a wry, eloquent trainer and a stern taskmaster who will get probably the most out of his gamers.
This week, the defending Stanley Cup-champion Florida Panthers gave Maurice a contract extension, underscoring his standing as top-of-the-line NHL coaches to ever do it.
It isn’t simply Maurice’s longevity that makes him an all-time teaching nice – though it’s positively a contributing issue.
The 57-year-old has been teaching within the NHL since November 1995 – an eternity within the teaching enterprise. Maurice additionally sits fourth amongst all NHL coaches in regular-season wins, with 873. He’s not more likely to catch dwelling legend Scotty Bowman (1,244 wins), however he’s more likely to beat Barry Trotz (914) and Joel Quenneville (969) by the point his profession is thru.
However what makes Maurice significantly particular is his persona and his means to encourage gamers with out stepping on their necks the best way some harsher coaches are wont to do. (We’ll allow you to guess who we’re speaking about right here.)
Maurice isn’t doing issues as a result of his ego dictates and calls for what his gamers ought to do. Certainly, he was a uncommon breed in that he stepped away from a superbly good group as he did because the Winnipeg Jets coach in December 2021. He fell on his personal sword in that individual case, believing he’d accomplished all he may to show the Jets right into a bona fide Cup front-runner. You’ll discover few coaches keen to surrender job safety as a result of they’ve hit a crossroads with their group, however that’s precisely what occurred with Maurice in Winnipeg.
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That selflessness is a part of the rationale Panthers GM Invoice Zito employed Maurice in 2022. Zito was additionally at a turning level along with his group, however he reached out to Maurice as a result of he knew Maurice (a) knew his Xs-and-Os, (b) was all the time capable of adapt to the fashionable sort of participant and (c) was nonetheless hungry to win all of it. Maurice turned out to be an ideal slot in Florida, and the Panthers rewarded his religion in them by delivering his first of what may grow to be a number of Cups.
Maurice simply may’ve pulled the chute on his teaching profession and moved full-time into broadcasting way back. He would’ve been simply as profitable in that discipline as he’s been as a coach. However when he did resign from the Jets, we knew (and stated on the time) that it wouldn’t be lengthy earlier than he was teaching once more. If anybody is a hockey lifer, it’s him, and we’re assured he will probably be behind one group’s bench or one other for properly into the following decade.
You wind up rooting for Maurice for a similar causes you root for anyone participant or administration member – you see that he treats everybody he encounters with respect and dignity. He is aware of how lucky he’s been to have been given the reins of a group when he was simply 28 years outdated, and he’s behaved like somebody grateful for each alternative he’s been given since then.
Maurice is now cemented because the Panthers’ coach for the foreseeable future, and whereas the teaching trade is about as fickle because it will get, you’d finest consider he’ll get one other teaching job as soon as his time ends in Florida.
Some coaches get one kick on the can on the NHL stage, and also you by no means hear from them once more. Different coaches – a choose few – can work in any market and discover sufficient success to maintain them over time and a long time. Maurice is clearly a type of choose few.
Maurice is well top-of-the-line in his occupation, and every part he does from this level on is gravy for a grateful icon.
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