So I'm kind of indifferent to Maurice. Not excited, but not that worried.
Given his long history, I tried to look back at his career. Feels like he's been around forever (I mean... He has) and it's almost ingrained that he's kind of meh. Losing record in regular season and playoffs etc. (Although 'd argue it's dumb to consider OTL in that record, and almost 0.500 in playoffs isn't that bad). But he's also coached a lot of games through different iterations of the league. Looking back... He had some pretty crappy teams and situations to work with. A jockey can only do so much with the horse he's got.
Those first Whalers teams were awful and they were basically being set up to move with recent ownership changes (we all know how that screws up a franchise).
Then the first couple years in Carolina they were basically playing all road games without a home arena. Like the Isles recently.
He still eventually got the 2001/02 team to the finals with a roster led by 38 year old Francis, a patchwork D led by Panthers alums Sean Hill, Bret Hedican, and Sandis Ozolinsh, and Weekes in goal. Wheels fall off next couple seasons because let's be honest, that roster sucks. The team goes on to win the cup in 2005/06 after the lockout season, which is used as an indication that Maurice held them back. But... That roster was also way better and had good young guys like Staal, Williams, Ward and good veterans.
He then coaches Toronto for two shitty seasons also with awful rosters. The starting goalies with Raycroft and Toskala.... That's not going to get you anywhere. Neither will a 35/36 year old Sundin with no other talent to front.
Carolina brings him back in 2008/09 to replace Lavi mid season because the team sucks. And they go on to lose in the conference finals to Crosby. They continue with a pretty crappy roster, go through a mini rebuild, miss playoffs but a point, and Maurice fired. To illustrate how crappy their team was, they don't make it back to the playoffs until 10 years later.
Then in Winnipeg he really only has the three bad seasons at the beginning in 2014/15 through 2016/17 while they were in semi-rebuild mode with spotty goaltending until Hellebuyck shows up. They relied on our old friend Hutchinson as a sort 1B.... That's not great. Then obviously there's the locker room stuff, but as someone who doesn't follow the Jets that closely, a team that has and keeps guys like Kane, Byuf, Wheeler... That's asking for trouble. The way he left the Jets seemed like he just couldn't get these characters to work together anymore and had enough.
I think point is that yes the guy's record and success is kind of meh, but I think the circumstances matter too. He's coached over 1,500 games through different transitions in the league and has got some success from some pretty mediocre rosters. So I'll keep an open mind and see what he brings.