After 26 seasons as an NHL head coach, including 11 trips to the playoffs and two Stanley Cup Final losses, Paul Maurice is more than ready to hoist hockey’s greatest prize.
At Friday’s media day, the Florida Panthers head coach was asked if coaches need to win the Stanley Cup to be considered great.
“Everybody’s different. Every coach is different,” Maurice said. “It seems to me that as you age, you get a different perspective on life, on what’s important and valuable.
“I need to win one. It’s not going to change the section of my life that’s not related to hockey at all. But that’s just the truth. That’s how I feel. I’m 30 years into this thing, I wouldn’t mind winning one, how about that?”
The 57-year-old Maurice will have his shot over the next couple of weeks as the Panthers look to take down the Western Conference-champion Edmonton Oilers.
Of course, Maurice and the Panthers reached the Cup Final last season, losing in five games to the Vegas Golden Knights after an epic post-season run that saw them take down three higher-seeded teams.
The series loss was the second time Maurice had led his team to the doorstep of a championship, the other coming in 2002, when he was the head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes. Those Hurricanes also lost the Stanley Cup in five games to the Detroit Red Wings.
Florida is the fourth franchise Maurice has coached for. He got his first shot as the head coach of the Hartford Whalers in the 1995-96 season at just 28 years old. He stuck with the team for the next eight years, through their relocation to Raleigh when they became the Hurricanes.
He has also spent time with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Winnipeg Jets and got a second stint with the Hurricanes.
But as far as his place in the all-time coaching ranks, Maurice said he has a pretty good idea of the job he’s done throughout his career, but adding a Stanley Cup win would certainly be welcome in his third trip to the final dance.
“I understand what it feels like to feel like it’s over and you didn’t win,” Maurice said, after acknowledging he reached a point where he thought his coaching career was over. “… I’m gonna know when this thing’s all over, either how good I got or how good I was. I won’t need someone else to tell me that or to value my career.”
“But yeah, I’d really like to win one.”
You can watch Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final Saturday on Sportsnet or Sportsnet+, beginning at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT from Sunrise, Fla.