Paul Maurice ‘Excited’ About What is Ahead for the Florida Panthers

SUNRISE — It sounds as if Paul Maurice has heard some of the criticisms thrown his way when it comes to the start of his first season behind the Florida Panthers bench.

It has been a slow start, Maurice will acknowledge that.

He looks at the standings at least once a day so, yeah, the team’s current place in the league hierarchy is hard to ignore.

But in talking with Florida Hockey Now a few days before his team embarked on a tough four-game stretch against three of the top teams in the Eastern Conference, Maurice said what excited him about taking over the Panthers still excites him some 30 games in.

“What intrigued me most about this situation is the exact situation we are in now,’’ Maurice said on Wednesday morning, a day before his team played without leading scorer Matthew Tkachuk due to a rampant flu bug swirling about.

“(Bill) Zito was very open that there was going to be some adversity this year. There was going to be some change and it was going to be hard. That was a big part of the appeal. Can you ride that, can you get through the tough time? …

“It has been what I thought it would be and I am quietly excited about where it is going to go. No one can sustain this injury run that we’re on and if it goes all year, we’re in trouble. But I have to believe we’ll heal and be better for it.”

The Panthers have weathered some storms already and the clouds have yet to part.

But Paul Maurice sees a clearing in the future — and it is not too far down the road.