From Hartford Whalers to the Panthers, Paul Maurice Keeps Evolving

FORT LAUDERDALE — 29 years ago Wednesday, Paul Maurice became the youngest coach in the NHL when the Hartford Whalers elevated him from being the team’s fresh-faced assistant coach and put him in charge of the whole team.

Pardon Maurice if he did not remember the anniversary.

“It’s dog years. It’s 147 normal years sometimes,” Maurice said following Florida’s practice at the IcePlex.

Maurice did hit up the memory bank, however, recalling how different the game is now than it was back then.

In 1995, when the Whalers fired Paul Holmgren in the midst of a 1-6-1 run, Maurice and his coaching staff did not have a specialized video department as teams do now.

Back then, not every game was televised.

NHL coaches would have to take what they could get — and that included game tape which was basically whatever was shown on the JumboTron during a game.

“When you take a step back, you look and ask ‘how much different is my day today than it was 27, 29 years ago’,” Maurice said. “It’s a completely different time; the resources that we have, the fitness of the players.’’

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Teams also dressed, worked out, and played in dark and dingy buildings.

The Whalers played at the old Hartford Civic Center, which was built into a shopping mall.

The Florida Panthers played their games at Miami Arena in Overtown, but practiced in Lighthouse Point with players driving the 40 miles between the two spartan facilities.

Now, Maurice’s team practices in a brand new $65-million facility in Fort Lauderdale with a weight room equipped with stuff NHL players in 1995 would not know what to do with.

“In Hartford, we had four TVs and six VCRs and that was the entire video department,” Maurice said, standing in front of a digital board inside a 40-seat auditorium built for player meetings.

“I have a computer now with more power than the entire Hartford Whalers network. It’s night and day. You can get through a game in three hours, where you could not get through a game.”

Maurice, obviously, has rolled with the punches over the years.

He was part of the transition when the Whalers packed up and moved to North Carolina; he coached the Toronto Maple Leafs after being fired from the Carolina Hurricanes, only to return to Raleigh.

Maurice coached Metallurg in the KHL, and did some TV work before being hired by the Winnipeg Jets.

In 2021, Maurice stepped down as coach of the Jets, saying the team needed a new voice and that he had lost some of the passion for the game.

Joining the Florida Panthers a few months later certainly seemed to rekindle that spark.

Paul Maurice has been good for the Florida Panthers — he has coached them to the Stanley Cup Final in each of his first two seasons, and finally won the elusive prize last June.

The Panthers have also been good for Paul Maurice.

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“I have more fun coaching the game than I ever have in my life,’’ he said in the spring. “I like the game and where it’s at; I really love these players and this organization.

“I have been lucky. I have worked with great teams and great people and that’s kind of how I got here today.’’

While Wednesday was the anniversary of Maurice being hired as an NHL head coach for the first time, Thursday marks 29 years since he coached his first game.

The Whalers beat the San Jose Sharks 7-3 at the Civic Center in Game 1.

Thursday is Maurice’s 1,863th game, second-most in NHL history.

It comes against the Nashville Predators, a team which was not even in the NHL when Maurice first took over the Whalers.

Does Paul Maurice, now 57, have any advice for his younger self?

“Go to law school,” he said. “No, I wouldn’t say a word to him. Figure it out on your own. It worked out alright.”

— Maurice was asked Wednesday about his thoughts on coaches now being part of the NHL 25 video game from EA Sports.

“Do they bleep you? Do you go up and down the bench screaming profanity?,” Maurice said. “Is there volume?”

When told no, Maurice smiled. “That’s hardly realistic.’’

When was the last time Maurice played a video game?

“Mario Kart 19 years ago,” he said. “My kids were about 6 and 9, and they destroyed me. It was their finest day they ever had. They laughed, loved the savage beating they gave me. They backed their karts up over me. It was the most enjoyable humiliation I ever had. And I was smart enough not to go back for more.”

— In Maurice’s first game, the Whalers took a 3-0 lead on the Sharks. San Jose got its first goal in the second period from Ray Sheppard — who would be traded to the Panthers later in the 1995-96 season and help lead Florida to the Stanley Cup Final.

— As a junior player with the Windsor Spitfires, Maurice — a defenseman — played against Brendan Shanahan, captain of the London Knights.

When Maurice was hired as coach of the Whalers, his top player was Shanahan.

“Kind of wild, isn’t it?” Shanahan said.

ON DECK: GAME 14

NASHVILLE PREDATORS AT FLORIDA PANTHERS 

• When: Thursday, 7 p.m.
• Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
• Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FTL); WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (Naples/FTM)
• Streaming: Panthers+, ESPN+
• Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
• Season Series — At Nashville: Feb. 25. At Florida: Thursday.
• Last Season: Split 1-1
• All-time Regular Season Series: Florida leads 22-15-6, 3 ties
• Up Next for the Panthers: Saturday vs. Philadelphia Flyers, 6 p.m.