Confirmed with Link: Paul Maurice signs 3 year deal to be head coach of the Florida Panthers (update 3/3/2023 given vote of confidence by Bill Zito)

[5 Hole]

I’m kind of shocked at how much I don’t really care either way about this. I’m glad we’re upgrading, but I don’t really know much about him and the threads seem mixed with love/hate. I’ll give him a chance. The playoffs will be the test.

 

[jonlin]

What? Ppl actually want Maurice to Florida?

 

[KW]

Maybe, but you definitely don’t need Paul Maurice. But you will see. No success for Florida for sure, as long as he is the coach. Sure, playoffs probably, but I wouldn't be even sure of that. And at least no chance to get even out of the first round if you get to the playoffs. Well, that’s of course what Florida has been used to when they rarely have got to the playoffs. So I guess Paul Maurice gives what is familiar so far. The all time losingest coach in the NHL is a big step backwards for Florida unfortunately.

And, we definitely don’t need a jets fan. You see, a jets fan will predict no success for Florida for sure, as long as he’s posting. Sure, there will be offhanded compliments, although even that isn’t certain. At least there’s no chance the first round comments will be anything but shit. Although, that’s what Florida fans are used to here when they rarely get a jets fan posting. So I guess a jets fan gives what’s familiar to Florida fans. Predictions of further losing, becoming the losingest franchise in NHL history, and a big step backwards for Florida jet fan postings unfortunately.

 

[StrangeVision]

you gotta take everything you hear with a grain of salt, unless you're talking to an NHL coach or a very smart NHL player.

media doesn't know shit. public analytics people rarely know shit. fans sure as hell don't know shit. antiquated systems? lol. fans can't reliably distinguish between player's/coach's responsibility.

maurice is, by any measure, a solid NHL coach and a reasonable hire.

You see the irony here, right?

Maurice might be a solid coach, but there are lots of solid coaches, there are also lots of coaches who haven't won anything, and so far Maurice is also one of those, as well as one who has only ever made the Cup final once.

Look, I hope he wins a Cup here, but nothing in his resume tells me he increases our chances all that much. He's a solid coach and that's all he's proven to be. Hopefully he's what the team needs and his 25th year as head coach is the year he finally figures it out and wins the Cup, but right now this is underwhelming.

 

[Mogo]

What? Ppl actually want Maurice to Florida?

It's more we wanted anyone with NHL head coaching experience over Brunette

Maurice wasnt my first pick but top 3 with Cassidy gone.

 

[Ippenator]

And, we definitely don’t need a jets fan. You see, a jets fan will predict no success for Florida for sure, as long as he’s posting. Sure, there will be offhanded compliments, although even that isn’t certain. At least there’s no chance the first round comments will be anything but shit. Although, that’s what Florida fans are used to here when they rarely get a jets fan posting. So I guess a jets fan gives what’s familiar to Florida fans. Predictions of further losing, becoming the losingest franchise in NHL history, and a big step backwards for Florida jet fan postings unfortunately.

I was in fact rooting the most for Florida to go all the way in the playoffs. Now my hope lies in Colorado, so that Tampa wouldn’t get the threepeat.

 

[FrolikFan67]

I’m not going to pretend like I know Maurice’s playbook inside and out. Let’s wait till the season starts and see how they play, see how they attack and defend, see how the special teams look. If they under perform then sure let’s bash the hell out of it, but it’s kinda pointless for me right now to get so worked up any which way as if I know everything about the guy. Let’s see how it goes.

Only thing that sucks for him is that there’s absolutely no way we can repeat the absolute insane season we just had. #1 team in the league, didn’t get shutout once in the regular season, crazy goal scoring numbers. It’s not repeatable and we’re probably going to lose some guys. There will be a decline, how much I’m not sure but there definitely will be some. And he’ll probably get blamed for it because someone’s gotta be the scapegoat. Maybe justifiably, but again I’d rather see how things play out.

 

[ScottyMascotty]

The thing I like most about this hire isn’t that Maurice is the guy but that Bruno isn’t. And that’s not intended to be Bruno bashing even though it does read like it. The point is that staying with Bruno would have sent the exact wrong signal right now to the team and to the fans. It would have been “keep doing what you’re doing” signal with some lip service to “we’re looking at way to change our PP and PK intensity and strategy”. But it would have been tweaks, no shocks, no signal of accountability.

Bruno being denied tells the team that they’re not here just for the fun and games they’d like to drift into. They’re here to spend a few to several years actually trying to win the Stanley Cup. That’s the goal for every team, or SHOULD be the goal for every team. This hire reminds the team of that fact. Performance has consequences.

And yeah, you’re not excluded from the group who must improve, Barkov and Huberdeau and Ekblad. I hope you grow a little sense of despair over the summer.

This is my opinion as a fan. If they don’t do anything better this time, they’ve made their choices, and I will make mine just the same. It’s all that I can control.

Or it's just overreacting after being Vasy'd?
Only next season will tell, and playoffs for sure

 

[Chessarmy]

I've always been a fan of Paul Maurice. I'm happy with this move. There's a reason he stuck with Winnipeg for 9 years (way longer than your average head coach shelf life). He may not be in the elite tier of coaches, but he's a clear upgrade over Brunette without question.

I was kinda holding out hope that we would somehow get Quenneville back. That's not happening, but I think Maurice is a good consolation prize.

 

[Johnny HFBOARDS]

Yikes.

So what would you say are his strengths?

On the "bright side", we don't have a lot of young players coming in so benching skilled youth shouldn't be much of an issue...

have you seen him chew gum? I'd hate to chased in a zombie apocalypse by this guy with dull skates ;p

 

[kerrabria]

I've said my piece about why I believe this is a low upside hire. Two more thoughts.

1) Maurice is a big time player's coach. Given the Yandle situation, Thornton saga, tearful goodbyes to Driedger/Vatrano, the love for Brunette, and the strip club story, I find it interesting that the franchise is going with a laid back guy. That either means a) the inmates are running the asylum and this time is going nowhere, or b) the reports and speculation about the locker room dynamic have been inaccurate.

2) A new coach means new faces. It will at least be interesting to what roster moves are made in accordance with Maurice's preferences.

 

[StrangeVision]

I've said my piece about why I believe this is a low upside hire. Two more thoughts.

1) Maurice is a big time player's coach. Given the Yandle situation, Thornton saga, tearful goodbyes to Driedger/Vatrano, the love for Brunette, and the strip club story, I find it interesting that the franchise is going with a laid back guy. That either means a) the inmates are running the asylum and this time is going nowhere, or b) the reports and speculation about the locker room dynamic have been inaccurate.

2) A new coach means new faces. It will at least be interesting to what roster moves are made in accordance with Maurice's preferences.

I really don't like that he's allegedly a big time a players' coach, that's not what this team needs at all. Their desire to have a good time is part of the reason they crapped out in the playoffs, they didn't care enough about winning games, they just wanted to have fun playing hockey. It kind of seems like Zito just went for the closest thing he could find to Bruno, only with more years on the bench.

 

[PBPantherfan]

Brunette got shafted lol, wait till most of the jobs were filled and then hey you can come back in a demoted role if you want

According to GR Bruno was allowed to talk to other teams while the Panthers did their coaching search so nobody else wanted him either.

The Panthers are believed to be giving Brunette the opportunity to return if he so chooses. Brunette has also been free to speak with other teams regarding their coaching vacancies.

Breaking: Florida Panthers hiring Paul Maurice as new coach

The Florida Panthers have found a permanant replacement for Joel Quenneville as the team is hiring former Winnipeg Jets coach Paul Maurice. An announcement from the team could come as early as Wednesday afternoon with a press conference in South Florida on Thursday — although nothing is official...

floridahockeynow.com

 

[kerrabria]

I always was impressed with the way the Jets played under him.

What specifically were you impressed by? It helps when you have the most dynamic group of wingers in the league. (Winnipeg's forward group has been underrated and overshadowed by the Laine bs and Scheifele).

 

[kerrabria]

I always was impressed with the way the Jets played under him.

What specifically were you impressed by? It helps when you have the most dynamic group of wingers in the league. (Winnipeg's forward group has been underrated and overshadowed by the Laine bs and Scheifele).

At the end of the day, its evident that in most people's eyes we will make the bad choice every single time.

Yes, but that is a function of the NHL's nepotism and lack of meritocracy. It's gotten noticeably better in the past few years, but it's still jarring at how routinely bad decisions are made/considered.

 

[Jean Luc Discard]

According to GR Bruno was allowed to talk to other teams while the Panthers did their coaching search so nobody else wanted him either.

The Panthers are believed to be giving Brunette the opportunity to return if he so chooses. Brunette has also been free to speak with other teams regarding their coaching vacancies.

Breaking: Florida Panthers hiring Paul Maurice as new coach

The Florida Panthers have found a permanant replacement for Joel Quenneville as the team is hiring former Winnipeg Jets coach Paul Maurice. An announcement from the team could come as early as Wednesday afternoon with a press conference in South Florida on Thursday — although nothing is official...

floridahockeynow.com

I'd reckon that he's been offered some cushy desk job which he probably doesn't like due to overestimating his abilities as a coach in consequence of getting nominated for the JA trophy. I think he's a good guy in general but competence overrules everything and therefore guys like Torts keep getting hired because they provide good results.

 

[kerrabria]

As a Peg fan, the above is true. He has zero ability to adapt in game, reverts to his antiquated systems and continually ran AHLers over youth with speed and skill unless forced to change because of injuries/Covid etc and even then, would swap out the veterans, especially his favs (Wheeler) once healthy, regardless of how well the subs played. His defensive systems are atrocious as evident in Helly seeing the most shots against of any starting goalie.
I wish him the best and would love to see him win a cup. To my understanding he’s a great person and a players coach.
But I definitely don’t see this going well for Florida

Thank you for the insight. What type of players does he favor and dislike? Are there any recent Jets on the free agent/trade market that you could see us going after?

 

[kerrabria]

Thankfully we don't have any 1st round picks so that PoMo doesn't get to ruin them.

Is this a fair critique?

Scheifele, Trouba, Morrissey, Ehlers, and Connor all debuted and developed into top line players under Maurice.

Roslovic struggled to break out, and succeeded in new scenery. Stanley and Vesalainen didn't work out. Laine is a mystery.

Overall, that's a pretty good track record for first round picks.

 

[Howboutthempanthers]

What specifically were you impressed by? It helps when you have the most dynamic group of wingers in the league. (Winnipeg's forward group has been underrated and overshadowed by the Laine bs and Scheifele).

Their attention to detail.

 

[kerrabria]

Ill say this about Paul. He managed to lead a team to 114 points a few years ago with the roster below.

In a very tough Central Division

View attachment 560955



View attachment 560953



I think our roster is far and away better than the one he had

And they lost to the lightning in a bottle Vegas in the WCF.

I don't get this post. That's a really good Winnipeg roster, and the Central Division teams weren't good at all. Nashville and Winnipeg were the most talented, Minnesota was built to lose in the first round, Colorado was coming off the worst season in a generation, Dallas was a one line team with no defenders, STL didn't have a 1C or a goalie, and the Blackhawks were falling apart.

Also, that's the year Hellebuyck was the Vezina runner-up.

 

[I am not exposed]

Didn't Maurice coached and loved Chiarot ???

Certainly coached him.

This is making more sense now! We got Maurice to keep Chiarot! So giving up that 1st rounder doesn't look as bad!

 

[kerrabria]

Looking at the stats, Chiarot received 6D minutes/deployment until his final season with Winnipeg.
In 2018-19, Chiarot received 18:37 TOI per game, but that was also the year that both Byfuglien and Morrissey missed half the season.

That summer he walked as a UFA. At first impression, I don't think Maurice will go out his way to bring back Chiarot.

 

[Laus723]

Zito clearly wasn’t happy with Bruno’s inability to adjust throughout the playoffs. He was outcoached in two straight rounds and failed to make any adjustments.

Certainly wish him well moving forward, wouldn’t mind him staying as an assistant, but he’s not the guy for this team right now. They need experience, no way would the team have been that flat under Q and they likely won’t be under Maurice.

I’m skeptical, but I trust Zito. Period. He took his time, interviewed several people, and did his homework. We’ll see how it works out, but I’m willing to wait and see.

But weird that Paul Maurice is the head coach of the Panthers, though.

Certainly coached him.

This is making more sense now! We got Maurice to keep Chiarot! So giving up that 1st rounder doesn't look as bad!

Yeah, that’s why Zito hired him. Wtf?

 

[I am not exposed]

Zito clearly wasn’t happy with Bruno’s inability to adjust throughout the playoffs. He was outcoached in two straight rounds and failed to make any adjustments.

Certainly wish him well moving forward, wouldn’t mind him staying as an assistant, but he’s not the guy for this team right now. They need experience, no way would the team have been that flat under Q and they likely won’t be under Maurice.

I’m skeptical, but I trust Zito. Period. He took his time, interviewed several people, and did his homework. We’ll see how it works out, but I’m willing to wait and see.

But weird that Paul Maurice is the head coach of the Panthers, though.



Yeah, that’s why Zito hired him. Wtf?

I obviously was joking around and not being serious.

 

[I am not exposed]

Looking at the stats, Chiarot received 6D minutes/deployment until his final season with Winnipeg.
In 2018-19, Chiarot received 18:37 TOI per game, but that was also the year that both Byfuglien and Morrissey missed half the season.

That summer he walked as a UFA. At first impression, I don't think Maurice will go out his way to bring back Chiarot.

Phew!