Paul Maurice coaches 1,813th NHL game, second-most in league history
Maurice is exactly four full NHL seasons away from catching Scotty Bowman for most games coached
Earlier this season Paul Maurice became just the third person to coach 1,800 games in the National Hockey League.
On Wednesday, he moved into sole possession of second place on that prestigious list.
When the puck dropped on the Florida Panthers home game against the Arizona Coyotes at Amerant Bank Arena, Maurice was officially coaching his 1,813th NHL game.
That moved him past his longtime friend and colleague Barry Trotz, the current general manager for the Nashville Predators.
Before the game, Maurice reflected on how much he’s learned during his four decades behand an NHL bench.
“There's a great line in a book I read, that you can think you have 25 years’ experience, but if you just experienced the same thing every year, you just have 25 years of one year experience,” Maurice said. “What's great about this job is it is different every day. So I think maybe my experience has taught me never to feel like I have a whole lot of experience, because the environment is changing every day and if you get caught in a pattern of thinking or a pattern…we all have our core beliefs about the game. Those things never really change. But the style of game changes all the time. So maybe experience has taught me you're still a rookie, you know, then you come into the first game tonight, not whatever the number is.”
The number is 1,813 games.
Only one man, the legendary Scotty Bowman coached more.
Maurice has a ways to go before he reaches Bowman’s 2,141 games coached, but at 56 years old (he’ll be 57 on Tuesday), there’s no reason to think he doesn’t have enough tread on the tires to give it a run, should he so choose.
Interestingly enough, Maurice is now exactly four 82-game regular seasons, or 328 games, behind Bowman.
If he ever reaches that number, Maurice knows he’ll have to continue being the open-minded, flexible coach if he wants to continue evolving with the game.
“Never get so arrogant to think you’ve got it figured out, because it'll change on you in a period,” Maurice said. “Real fast, right? Everybody's different. People are all different, all the time. How you deal with them has to change. You can run your general guidelines, but you have to be open to learning. Maybe that's a better way. There's a reason to change. You change from education, you change for learning, and you have to be open to learn. Probably the driver of being open to learn is accepting the fact that you don't know everything.”
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