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March 24, 2026
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Maurice team

FORT LAUDERDALE — Paul Maurice did not expect to take a stroll down memory lane when he came to work on Monday morning.

But on the eve of coaching in his 2,000th regular-season NHL game, a casual hike through the decades is just what he got.

“This morning, unbeknownst to myself, they had a video in here with the players. And it was wonderful, it truly was,” Maurice said.


“There were some people on there that I had not seen in a long time. I don’t know that you forget who you coached with, or who you worked with. But, oh God. There were some pictures with lots of hair, 30 pounds heavier, and bad ties. I guess I still maintain that. It was wonderful, so well done. That’s the first time I felt it a little bit.”

The Panthers went to great lengths to get video tributes not only from current members of the team, but past players, coaches, and executives Maurice has worked with over the years.

His first NHL game came in 1995 during his first year as an NHL assistant coach.

Promoted up from the juniors, Maurice was tasked with becoming an NHL head coach just 12 games in.

At 28, he was the second-youngest NHL coach in history.

Tonight, he becomes just the second coach in NHL history to coach 2,000 games. Hall of Famer Scotty Bowman is the other.

Bowman, a Stanley Cup champion nine times over with Montreal, Pittsburgh and Detroit, retired in 2002 after 2,141 games and 1,244 wins.

Maurice will not catch Bowman in the wins department but the 59-year-old could surpass Bowman for games coached during the 2027-28 campaign.

“When you see a flash of yourself from 30 years ago, you can kind of remember how you felt. You almost remember that game,’’ Maurice said.

“But everything’s changed, right? The first clip of me, I had no kids. Now, all the kids are out of the house. Life has changed me as much or far more than the game has.

“And this has been an incredible experience. I do have a pretty good spectrum of emotions in my career: Tensions, pressures, darkness, light, extreme sadness, incredible joy. I do get flashes of it when you allow yourself to. It has been an unusual day. I had not thought about it, was not in the mood to think about it, then I got shown a life reel. God, I was young. I was young and unprepared. I don’t feel as young, but I’d like to think I am far more prepared.”

Maurice was put into a tough situation when he started coaching the Whalers in 1995 and that seemed to be the theme of his career.

By and large, Maurice coached some bad teams over the years.

He helped the Whalers get good — they had moved to Carolina by then — when he took them to the Stanley Cup Final in 2002.

Maurice and the Hurricanes lost to Bowman’s Red Wings.

THE ROAD TO SOUTH FLORIDA

Maurice got fired by the Hurricanes, coached a bad Toronto team, then returned to Carolina when it was on its downslide from finally winning the Cup with Peter Laviolette behind the bench.

After being fired by the Hurricanes a second time, Maurice went to work in Russia coaching in Magnitogorsk.

A short sojourn where he golfed and dabbled in Canadian TV led to being hired in Winnipeg, yet another bad team still struggling years after being an expansion team in Atlanta.

Maurice coached the Jets for parts of nine seasons, getting them to the playoffs in five including the 2018 Western Conference final.

In 2021, Maurice resigned as coach of the Jets saying he was not having fun anymore and that he just could not reach his players to get them to the heights they needed to get to.

That has not been a problem in Florida.

Maurice, simply put, has been the perfect coach for these Panthers.

“He just has a great feel for the game and for the team,” said Dmitry Kulikov, who played for Maurice in Winnipeg and joined him in his return to Florida in 2023. “His speeches really get the team going. Just the way he approaches the season, each individual game, I haven’t had a coach do it like he does. He just knows what a team needs. He can give us a push, or let us figure it out.’’

Added Evan Rodrigues: “Probably the best coach I have ever had in terms of the whole game; speeches, motivation, Xs-and-Os. I think the most impressive part is his ability to read a room and give us exactly what we need, whether it’s a kick in the ass, or kind of letting us go. Huge accomplishment. Looking forward to it.”

Maurice cup

Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice meetd the media after winning the Stanley Cup in 2024. // Photo @GeorgeRichards

For the first time in his career, Maurice took over a team on the upswing when he was hired by Bill Zito and the Panthers in 2022.

During the previous season, Florida ran roughshod over the NHL during the regular season and won the Presidents’ Trophy for most points in the league.

That was after coach Joel Quenneville was forced to resign eight games in; interim Andrew Brunette led the team the rest of the season.

But the Panthers flamed out in the playoffs, swept in the second round by the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Zito wanted to change how the Panthers played, and he hired Maurice to do it.

After a rocky start, the Panthers finally bought in.

“I was gifted a Presidents’ Trophy winning team that just needed to find a new path,’’ Maurice said. “And a whole bunch of guys who were excited about doing that.”

In Maurice’s first year, the Panthers got into the playoffs by the skin of their teeth and then made an improbable run to the Stanley Cup Final.

Florida lost to the Vegas Golden Knights in 5, but that run set the tone for what was next.

The Panthers won the Stanley Cup the next two years, Maurice finally becoming a champion.

“We had a talented and intelligent group,” said Brandon Montour, who was with the Panthers when Maurice was hired in 2022 and will be on the ice tonight with the Seattle Kraken.

“Paul came in, right off the bat, and brought an attitude that we did not have to rely on our talent to win games 6-5, 7-5, every night. It was a playoff mentality right away. It took some grueling pains, but I think that culture shift started when Paul came in.”

PANTHERS STORY NOT FINISHED

This season has not gone the way Maurice or the Panthers hoped — or thought — it would go.

With 13 games left, Maurice is already thinking about his upcoming training camp.

For the first time in years, staff and players can quietly make offseason plans.

Florida’s final game this season will be April 15 against the Red Wings.

That’s just the way it goes sometimes.

“Things haven’t been very easy for us. It’s been a hard year,’’ Maurice said. “You win two, then you just start taking hits the entire year. Nobody’s happy. It’s dark after a game. But they roll into rink, come to work, and treat each other the exact same way that they did when things were good. Part of that, maybe, is we know that things can get back there if we work hard and do all the right things.’’

But Maurice seemed energized when asked about the future of the Panthers — and his role in it.

The Panthers may not be defending the Stanley Cup this postseason but they will be back in the chase for it soon enough.

Maurice and the Panthers plan to be back at their best next season.

“There’s a future here. We’re not at the tail-end of our story. We’re in the middle of our story,” Maurice said. “We do not feel this is a sad chapter to a really fun book. This is a piece of adversity that we have the opportunity to truly galvanize our culture. You can say the culture wasn’t just great when they won, but the culture was great when they got kicked in the teeth. That’s what we should be doing.’’

ON DECK: GAME No. 70
SEATTLE KRAKEN at FLORIDA PANTHERS 

 

 

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