The Florida Panthers have introduced a multi-year contract extension for head coach Paul Maurice. The precise length or phrases of the contract haven’t but been revealed.
Maurice has already stamped his place in Florida’s report books, becoming a member of the staff forward of the 2022-23 season and instantly main the Panthers to their first Stanley Cup Closing since 1996. They’d finally fall to a red-hot Vegas Golden Knights staff, however Maurice one-upped the efficiency final season when he returned Florida to the Cup Closing and trumped Edmonton in a seven-game collection.
For the entire efforts of Florida’s stars — particularly Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov and Sergei Bobrovsky — within the postseason runs, it was the full-team-effort driving Florida’s ship in each years. Gamers like Evan Rodrigues, Anton Lundell, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Vladimir Tarasenko all discovered methods to step up on the excellent moments, talking to Maurice’s capacity to inspire his staff from top-to-bottom.
Now within the early going of his third yr with the membership, Maurice has already grow to be the third-winningest coach (98 wins) in Panthers historical past — behind Jacques Martin (110 wins) and Peter DeBoer (103 wins). Maurice has additionally gained extra playoff video games (45) than another Panthers coach.
Curiously, this multi-year extension will make Maurice the longest-tenured coach in Panthers historical past. 9 totally different coaches — together with DeBoer, Martin, Joel Quenneville and Mike Keenan — have coached three seasons in Florida, however solely Maurice has discovered the success wanted to stay round longer.
Maurice’s success within the hockey world extends far past his time in Florida. He started his teaching profession in 1987-88, when he served as a participant/coach for the OHL’s Windsor Compuware Spitfires. That was his fourth yr of OHL hockey — and whereas he solely managed 40 factors in 189 video games as a participant, he clearly discovered a match behind the bench.
He caught round Windsor for 2 extra years earlier than supporting youth hockey in Detroit for six years — then taking his abilities to the NHL’s Hartford Whalers bench in 1995-96. He began as an assistant coach, however was promoted to move coach lower than a month into the season.
Maurice took management of a fully loaded roster, led by Brendan Shanahan, Geoff Sanderson and Jeff Brown. He caught with the staff by their transfer to Carolina in 1997, and even caught round lengthy sufficient to observe over his modern-day competitors — present Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour and Buffalo Sabres common supervisor Kevyn Adams.
Maurice missed the playoffs in 5 of his eight years with the Whalers/Hurricanes — and never even a Finals look in 2002 was sufficient to guard him from being fired after a 8-12-10 begin to the 2003-04 season. He took one season away — however returned because the AHL Toronto Marlies head coach in 2005-06, and returned to NHL teaching in 2006-07.
He’s been main top-tier benches ever since, together with his journey taking him by a quick stint in Toronto, a return to Carolina, and even one yr with the KHL’s Metallurg through the 2012 NHL lockout.
Maurice returned from the holiday to Russia as the pinnacle coach of the Winnipeg Jets, the place he’d spend the subsequent 9 seasons. He made the postseason in 5 of these campaigns, pulling Winnipeg from a middling function within the Central Division into playoff consistency that continues even at this time.
Together with his 7-4-2 report to begin this season, Maurice has accrued an extremely 899-760-250 report throughout 28 seasons within the NHL. He ranks second in all-time video games coached (1,909) behind all-time-great Scotty Bowman (2,141). Maurice would wish to teach three extra seasons to move Bowman’s report.
He’ll must maintain successful to catch as much as different information — main all lively coaches in wins however ranked fourth in all-time wins (873) behind Bowman (1,244), Quenneville (969) and Barry Trotz (914).
