Paul Maurice: “It’s A Special Place And You Could Feel It”

The Winnipeg Jets hosted the Florida Panthers from Canada Life Centre on Tuesday evening. With the Panthers still missing Aleksander Barkov as he continues to recover from a bout with pneumonia, the visitors did not look to be the same team that tore up the Eastern Conference last year.

The big change? That of coaching.

After walking out on his crew in the early winter months last season, current Panthers head coach Paul Maurice was back in town for his first visit to Winnipeg since that eventful December day.

“It’s a big part of your life,” Maurice said when asked about his return to Manitoba. “You invest so much into it and you don’t separate the personal and the professional because they always come together, right? My kids came here at a young age and they became who they are in Winnipeg. So there’s a connection there. I get to meet a few people while I’m here.”

His daughter Sydney chose to remain in Winnipeg, while his sons chose to head south with Paul and Michelle.

“We’re not long enough to see all the people you care for or you’d like to but for sure, right? And I haven’t seen the players, haven’t run into any of them really over time. I talked to them occasionally, briefly, early on in the summertime, but it’ll be different for sure.”

Leaving town in about an abrupt manner as one could imagine from a coach who was not fired, Maurice left many wondering where he would next find work, as he took the remainder of the 2021-22 season to sit back and reflect upon his journey. But soon enough, the Panthers came calling and Coach Mo picked up.

“I think I had four incredible days at the lake. And was driving home with my wife on a Monday and my phone rang in my car. I didn’t know the number,” Maurice laughed. “Usually I don’t answer numbers that I don’t know. Telemarketing… I had no relationship with (Florida Panthers GM) Bill (Zito). It was ‘What are you interested in?’ So a bunch of unusual little things happened.

“I talked to other teams, it just wasn’t a fit there, I was comfortable with where I was at. But I had a really in-depth meeting (with Zito) and conversation over four or five days, maybe even longer than that. And I was excited about the idea of what they’re trying to do. All of their pieces are not that far off. They had a good year, they’ve struggled a little bit maybe kind of getting to that next level, but I think the best hockey for this franchise is ahead of them.”

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The deal was signed and Maurice has since guided the Panthers to an ominous 12-10-4 record following a 2021-22 season that saw the team go 58-18-6 and move on from then fill-in head coach Andrew Brunette.

“Here’s the funny thing,” Maurice reflected. “Won a bunch of games here in Winnipeg but our analytics were just not very good. And our analytics are outstanding in Florida, right? Slot shots, we’re top five in the league in shots for and our wins and losses aren’t where we want them to be. But there’s a lot of truth to our game. Our game’s pretty good. I think we’ve found a fairly decent balance in terms of being able to score on what we generate, and for the most part, been a pretty solid defensive team.”

On Tuesday night, the Jets took care of business in front of their old boss. Both Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor scored twice, while Pierre-Luc Dubois had three helpers on the night. Connor Hellebuyck slammed the door on 39 Panthers shots, picking up the 5-2 win in the process.

“It’s a special place for Jamie and I, isn’t it?” Maurice said, referencing the jumbotron tribute made to he and his long-time assistant Jamie Kompon midway through the first period. “We really appreciated it; it was good on the bench, it was good in the stands. That was very classy as they always are. We both were here for a very long time, we are very appreciative that they recognized him as well.”

A classy move from the #NHLJets honouring the man that led the team to its first playoff berth in 2.0 history.

Paul Maurice was 315-229-62 as the bench boss in Winnipeg from 2014-2021. pic.twitter.com/DZPOc5QWyu

— Carter Brooks (@CBrooksie84) December 7, 2022

“I think we were down one at that point,” Maurice laughed. “It’s a special place and you could feel it. It’s more during the national anthems – one of my favourite things is the national anthems – it’s a great building, they’ve got a great fanbase here and they appreciate the game. That was probably the emotional part, and then puck dropped and away we went.”

Unable to find a way to consistently beat Hellebuyck, Maurice and Co. watched as their old reliable offence came out to fight, chasing goaltending Spencer Knight from the game early in the second period. The relentless attack finished with a three-goal cushion, catapulting the team up to first in the Central Division.

“Bowness is someone that does a really good job at getting down to — pardon the pun — the bones of it,” Maurice said. “To get to the structure of it, the skeleton of fixing some basic things and getting a real simple kind of mindset in all three zones. Real consistent game. I think he did that in Dallas as well. Bit of a defensive bent on it. He has got a real, real good goaltender here, so structured right.”

The respect went both ways, as Bowness also sang Maurice‘s praises, before turning his attention to the game at hand.

“Listen, Paul is an excellent coach and he had a great run here,” Bowness said. “So, you give him full marks for that. And he’s doing a great job with Florida. So, give him full marks for that. But for me, I’ve said this many times and I’ll say it every day, I keep the focus on our team and how we want to play, regardless of who is coming in. That’s noise outside of the game.”