Panthers’ Paul Maurice ‘found different ways to love the game’ as he hits a new milestone

Paul Maurice has been an NHL head coach for nearly half his life now.

He’s about to hit a new milestone to show for his longevity in the business.

When he gets behind the bench Monday as the Florida Panthers face the New Jersey Devils to cap a three-game road trip to begin the season, it will mark Maurice’s 1,769th career game as an NHL head coach. That moves him past Joel Quenneville for the third most in NHL history.

Maurice, who is in the start of his 26th NHL season as a head coach, trails only Scotty Bowman (2,141 games over 30 seasons) and Barry Trotz (1,812 games over 23 seasons) for most games coached. Maurice is in line to pass Trotz before the end of the 2023-24 season.

Maurice enters Monday with an all-time record of 817 wins, 714 regulation losses, 99 ties and 138 overtime and shootout losses. The 817 wins are sixth all-time and second among active coaches (the Devils’ Lindy Ruff has 835). The 714 regulation losses are the most in NHL history. He has spent time with five teams and has reached the Stanley Cup Final twice.

He has also seen the game’s evolution during the past three decades firsthand, and it gives him a greater appreciations for where he is now.

“You learn how to love the game differently over time,” Maurice, 56, said prior to Florida’s 6-4 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday. “The game has changed so drastically. ... There was some heaviness in the lineup. The toughness has probably given way to speed. I think I just found different ways to love the game and the people in it.”

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 a Stanley Cup Final appearance last season and now has eyes on building on that run this year.

More Panthers milestones to watch for

Maurice’s milestone is just one of a slew of individual achievements that will be or could be coming up in the immediate future for the Panthers. A few to note:

▪ Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky enters Monday’s game against the Devils with 105 wins with the Panthers, one win shy of tying John Vanbiesbrouck for second-most all-time in Panthers history. Roberto Luongo holds the franchise record with 230 wins.

▪ Star center and team captain Aleksander Barkov will skate in his 667th game with the Panthers on Monday, putting him five away from breaking Jonathan Huberdeau’s franchise record of 671 games played. Barkov already holds the club record for most goals scored (243) and most points (633). With 390 total assists, he needs 10 to crack 400 for his career and 25 to tie Huberdeau’s franchise record of 415 assists.

▪ Star winger Matthew Tkachuk enters Monday seven points shy of 500 for his career and eight goals away from 200.

▪ Forward Sam Reinhart enters Monday one goal away from 200 for his career and three assists away from 250 for his career.