This year, the Florida Panthers are struggling a bit in Round 2, especially with the Toronto Maple Leafs holding a 2-0 lead. But hey, this team has pulled off some amazing things in the past in the NHL! They snagged their first Stanley Cup in 2024. The Panthers pulled off this amazing achievement in their 30-season history by taking down the Edmonton Oilers in a thrilling seven-game series. After that win, head coach Paul Maurice really showed his emotions. So, the stakes were pretty high, but he dropped a big hint about who he’ll be cheering for next season, even though he’s the coach of the Panthers.
“I just want to get on, it was, it was… So if I could have one thing more, it would be for the Winnipeg Jets to win the next Stanley Cup,” Maurice said. The Panthers’ coach has a strong bond with the Jets, thanks to his time as their head coach from 2013 to 2021. During this time, he set franchise records by coaching 600 games and racking up 315 wins. Even though he stepped down in 2021, Maurice still has a deep love for the Jets and the city of Winnipeg. His wish after the championship really highlights the strong connections he made while with the team and how he’s still cheering for their success.
But the Jets weren’t the only team he’s shown his support for. While interacting with Dallas Stars head coach Pete DeBoer, Maurice mentioned, “There was no good result in the Dallas Edmonton Series for me last year. I wanted you to win. I couldn’t mentally understand. I’m cheering for you but I don’t want to play you. But I didn’t want you to lose. It really mixed emotions and I couldn’t get a handle on it.”
Paul Maurice is openly sharing the emotional struggle he experienced during the 2024 Western Conference Final between the Dallas Stars and the Edmonton Oilers. The Panthers coach really values his friendship with DeBoer and has a lot of respect for him, so it’s only natural that he wants to see his friend do well. Maurice was totally rooting for DeBoer and the Stars to take the win while watching the series.
As the head coach of the Florida Panthers, he was aware that if Dallas took the West, he’d be up against DeBoer and the Stars in the Stanley Cup Final — definitely a tough matchup. Given his work and personal life, Maurice experienced a lot of mixed feelings during that time. Also, Maurice shared an old tactic that he still uses.
Paul Maurice is following his mentor’s words
Even someone as successful as Paul Maurice has had a mentor, and that mentor is Jimmy Rutherford. They’ve built a solid professional bond that has truly influenced his coaching journey, and it all began back in the early 1990s in the OHL.
There are definitely a lot of pieces of advice that Maurice still holds onto today. “I can’t tell you the number of times that I’ve acted on a piece of advice that Jim Rutherford gave me 35 years ago, if I had just listened to him. You’re stubborn and you’re young and you’re going to do it. Paul, you don’t always have to take your goalie out after a loss. You can take him out after he wins a game, too. Why would I do that?” Maurice mentioned.
“We just won. He’s hot. I’ve got to play him. And then, you know, Sergei Bobrovsky wins his 400 the other night, fastest goalie in the history of the NHL to get to 400, and he doesn’t play the next game. And I’m thinking, if I had listened to that man, what Jimmy was great at is even if he was going to give you a shot, if he had, and sometimes it was serious, you would walk away from the meeting feeling good about yourself.”
Maurice talks about how, in the past, he could be quite stubborn and didn’t always take advice easily, even when it was from someone as wise and experienced as Rutherford. But eventually, he began to take his advice by remembering it. The Panthers coach shares a relatable story about how after Sergei Bobrovsky reached his 400th career win, Maurice chose to give him a break for the next game.
Instead of simply riding Bobrovsky’s momentum, Maurice took a step back to look at the bigger picture. He wanted to keep an eye on the workload, make sure there was long-term energy, and avoid pushing a key player too hard. As he walked, he realized he was actually putting into practice the advice Rutherford had shared with him all those years ago, advice he hadn’t really appreciated back then.
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