After latest milestone, Paul Maurice has ‘a feeling of home’ coaching Florida Panthers

Paul Maurice tried to laugh off the latest accomplishment of his lengthy NHL coaching career. On Wednesday night, when the Florida Panthers beat the Arizona Coyotes 6-2, he coached his 1,813th game — the second-most in NHL history.

The Panthers played a video tribute for him in the first period that night that showed highlights from his 26-year career that includes stints with five different teams.

His first thought postgame when asked if the moment had any extra significance, the 56-year-old Maurice said he felt “old.”

“That’s a lot of hair in that first picture,” Maurice said of the start of the tribute video.

But then came a pause, a chance for him to really soak in the moment and collect his emotions.

“I don’t know what to say about it really. ... I’ve had a bunch of other numbers and they don’t necessarily resonate a whole lot, but for whatever reason today’s did,” Maurice then said. “That’s a lot of really good people that I’ve worked with and a lot of games that my family has had to grind through just as much as me and everybody else. Pro sports is a wonderful place, but not a particularly forgiving place to work. To get to that number, I would say it’s special to me.”

As that tribute video ended, he received a raucous applause from the nearly sold-out crowd at Amerant Bank Arena, which brought out another reaction for Maurice as he works through his second season with the Panthers.

“Kind of a feeling of home,” Maurice said. “I love coaching these guys. I love coaching here. It’s been fun for me. And it’s nice to share that with them. I’ve been in the league a long time. I haven’t been with this group [a long time], but God, they’re a fun bunch of guys to coach. I’ve got a really good staff and I’m really enjoying my time now. I’m really enjoying my profession now.”

It’s fun when the buy-in pays off. After all, the Panthers have come a long way in a short time under Maurice.

Just look at the difference between where they were at this point last season and now. Florida entered the All-Star Break in the 2022-23 season with a 24-22-6 record as the team went through its lumps while transitioning from a run-and-gun, rush-heavy team to one that prioritized defense and let its offensive build on a strong, organized structure. They were 22nd out of 32 teams in points percentage and sixth in the eight-team Atlantic Division before going on a tear in the second half to be the last team in the Eastern Conference to secure a playoff spot and continue that run all the way to a Stanley Cup Finals appearance.

This year? The Panthers have picked up where they left off last season. They entered the All-Star Break with a 31-14-4 record that had them firmly in second place in the Atlantic Division. They only had one losing streak of more than two games.

And the players understand the success comes first and foremost from the man behind the bench.

“He’s been amazing,” Panthers star winger Matthew Tkachuk said. “That’s a lot of games and a lot of different players that he’s coach. He’s coached a few different teams and it seems he has success everywhere he goes. Very lucky that we’re able to play for him. I know I’ve said it a lot of times, but he’s just made me a much better player than what I was before.”

Added winger Evan Rodrigues: “He’s honest. He’s personable. He makes you play the game the right way. Some people might see it as hard, but I think when players realize that it works, everyone has respect for him. He knows what it takes to win and when we play the way he wants us to, we get results. And once you get results, it’s hard to go against what he’s saying.”

Maurice’s tenure as an NHL head coach began in the 1995-96 season with the Hartford Whalers. He was the Whalers’ head coach each of their final two seasons before they relocated to North Carolina and became the Carolina Hurricanes, with whom he stayed the head coach for six full seasons — making the playoffs three times and reaching the Stanley Cup Final in 2002 — before being fired 30 games into the 2003-04 season.

After a two-year stint as the head coach of the AHL Toronto Marlies, Maurice returned to the NHL as the head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2006-07 season. He stayed in Toronto for two seasons before returning for a second stint with Carolina, during which he guided the Hurricanes to the Eastern Conference Finals in the 2008-2009 season but missed the playoffs each of the next two seasons. He was fired 25 games into the 2011-12 season.

Maurice then took another year hiatus from the NHL, this time serving as head coach of the Metallurg Magnitogorsk of Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). He found his way back to the NHL in the 2013-14 season with the Winnipeg Jets, where he made the playoffs five times in his eight full seasons before resigning 29 games into the 2021-22 season.

And then he found his way to Florida, where he guided the Panthers to the Stanley Cup Finals and has them trending in that direction once again this year.

“What’s great about this job is that it’s different every day,” Maurice said. “My experience has taught me never to feel like I have a whole lot of experience because the environments change every day. … We all have our core beliefs on the game and those things never really change. But the style of game changes all the time. Maybe experience has taught me you’re still a rookie.”

Being with the Panthers, he said, certainly has rejuvenated him.

“The end of last year, they said ‘Paul and the coaches kind of make it fun,’ but I don’t think it was us. They’re fun,” Maurice said. “If you work real hard, for the coach you’re not pulling anyone’s teeth every day. The grinding players every day to get them to push harder, that’s what wears guys out. I don’t have to do that with these guys. They work hard on their own. It’s so refreshing to have them. I spend more time thinking about pulling back in practice, shortening practice, cutting back, because they’ll go as hard as you push them.”