A Champion at Last: Former Maple Leafs Head Coach Paul Maurice's Long Journey to Stanley Cup Glory
After 26 seasons behind the bench, Maurice captured the elusive Stanley Cup for the first time with the Florida Panthers on Monday night.
A champion at last.
After 26 seasons behind the bench, former Toronto Maple Leafs and Marlies head coach Paul Maurice has won the Stanley Cup – and it’s been a long time coming.
Now at 57 years of age, Maurice was, at one point, the second-youngest coach in NHL history when he took over the Hartford Whalers in 1995 at age 28. Since then, it’s been a long road to this point.
After the Whalers relocated to Raleigh, North Carolina, becoming the Carolina Hurricanes, Maurice led them to four consecutive winning seasons from 1998-2002. He guided the Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup Playoffs three times from 1997-2004, reaching the Stanley Cup Final in 2002, which saw the club lose in five games to the Detroit Red Wings.
During his tenure, he coached 674 regular season games amassing a 268-291-99-16 record split between the Whalers and the Hurricanes. Maurice also coached 35 playoff games, with a 17-18 record, getting his first taste of the Stanley Cup Final experience – but coming up short.
The Sault Ste. Marie native would depart from Carolina and return to Ontario, Canada, in 2005 to overtake head coaching duties for the AHL Marlies in Toronto. Following a successful season in the AHL, posting a 41-29-6-4 record in 80 games, Maurice would become the 26th coach in Maple Leafs’ history in 2006. As the successor to Pat Quinn, Maurice entered the scene as a promising candidate and a perfect fit for the Leafs at the time, who were fresh off a 90-point season and a 41-33-8 record.
Though he brought nearly a decade of experience from Carolina, the Leafs failed to reach the postseason in his tenure from 2006-2008. Despite posting a winning record of 76-66-22, the mainstream market and overwhelming pressure of Toronto began to take a toll on the now-veteran coach.
With that, Maurice picked up and returned to where it all began – the Carolina Hurricanes, who had won the Stanley Cup in 2006, two years removed from his first departure. Maurice was with the Hurricanes from 2008-2012, making the playoffs only once in his first year back with the club – a Conference Finals appearance that saw the Canes win eight games and lose 10.
In his second go around with the organization, he finished with a 116-100-30 regular season record while becoming the youngest coach in NHL history to coach 1,000 games, reaching the milestone on November 28, 2010, at 43 years old.
So what was next for Maurice? 16 seasons in the NHL, one Stanley Cup Final appearance, and no ring to show for it.
After a one-year stint as the head coach of the Magnitogorsk Metallurg in the KHL, his next step was to join the Winnipeg Jets in 2013 – a place he still holds dear to his heart. In nine seasons from 2013-2022, the Jets made it to the postseason five times, the furthest being a trip to the Western Conference Finals in 2017-18. Under Maurice’s guidance, the club made it as far as they have ever been, still in 2024, never appearing in a Stanley Cup Final – let alone winning one.
Maurice owns the Jets’ franchise record for games coached (600) and wins (315). In addition to becoming the youngest in league history to coach 1,000 games, he was the youngest to coach 1,500 games as a head coach, and the second-youngest to earn 500 wins. Given he was in Winnipeg for a lengthy period, he soon became one of three coaches to earn 300 wins with two different franchises. Coaching 600 games in Winnipeg, he held a 315-223-62 record with a .577 point percentage.
But still without a Stanley Cup after nine seasons, he felt that a new voice was needed for the Jets and he heavily contemplated retirement himself. Although he had hoped to be the key piece to bringing a Stanley Cup to the city of Winnipeg, he certainly did not forget them in Monday’s celebration telling Sportsnet’s Kyle Bukauskas, “If I could have one thing more, it would be for the Winnipeg Jets to win the next Stanley Cup.”
Having coached the Whalers/Hurricanes, Leafs, and Jets for 24 seasons combined, Maurice decided he wanted another crack at accomplishing his lifelong goal of winning a Stanley Cup.
Insert the Florida Panthers.
Maurice was brought on to lead the former President’s Trophy winners, who imploded in the 2022 postseason – getting swept by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second round. He was a part of the overhaul of change for the Panthers that summer, who were eager to capture the franchise’s first Stanley Cup.
With plenty of new faces, including newly acquired star forward Matthew Tkachuk, the club impressively made the Stanley Cup Final as heavy underdogs in its first year assembled after rallying behind a 3-1 deficit in the team’s opening-round series against the Boston Bruins (who had the greatest regular season record ever). Coming out of nowhere as a remarkable story, the Finals berth marked Maurice’s second appearance on the biggest stage, however, it also resulted in the same outcome as in 2002 – a loss in five games to the Vegas Golden Knights.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7en_wN-5XRE[/embed]
The question remained, would he ever be able to do it?
Set to enter his 26th season as a head coach in the NHL in the 2023-24 season and having the most career regular-season games coached without a championship (1,848), many questioned how many more kicks of the can he would get. Maurice, who currently has the fourth most wins (869) for a head coach in NHL history (.470 win percentage) behind Scotty Bowman, Joel Quenneville, and Barry Trotz, would get his chance to join the elite company in his 11th postseason appearance in 2023-24 after earning his 850th NHL win in February.
After the Panthers cruised past the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games, won a competitive six-game series against the Boston Bruins, and willed their way to another six-game series victory against the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference Final, Maurice and the Panthers were getting another shot at the Cup, after all.
In just his third trip to the Finals in his 26-year NHL career, he made the most of it – this time, the team proved to be different. Jumping ahead to a 3-0 series lead against the Edmonton Oilers, the Panthers were ready to celebrate, perhaps, a little too soon. From complete jubilation to utter shock in the blink of an eye, Maurice’s legacy was on the line win or lose after the Oilers battled back to win the next three games and force a deciding winner-take-all Game 7.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjjvuhwY84E[/embed]
Win, and Maurice is solidified as one of the greatest coaches the game has ever seen. Lose, in perhaps the greatest collapse in the sport’s history, and it all becomes tarnished. What would it be, Maurice?
Victory.
An incredible story of determination, hard work, character, and adversity was encapsulated in one moment when he lifted the Stanley Cup as he improved to 5-0 in Game 7’s – etching his name on the Stanley Cup forever marking his place in hockey history as a champion.
Besides his .511 win percentage in the postseason, Maurice has an overall 70-60 record in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 137 games. With the Panthers, he has a 29-16 record with a .644 win percentage in the playoffs while holding a 94-56-14 record in 164 regular season games and earning a remarkable .616 point percentage.
Though his legacy is solidified, could this only be the beginning for Maurice and the Panthers? After back-to-back Stanley Cup appearances, who’s to say they won’t run it back again for years to come?
Related
News from THN.com