Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice made NHL history on Tuesday night, as he became the second coach in NHL history to reach 2,000 games behind an NHL bench, joining Scotty Bowman.
Maurice, who became the second-youngest head coach in the history of the league when he began his career as the bench boss of the Hartford Whalers, has coached five different teams, and he has earned two Stanley Cup championships during his time in Florida.
“This has been an incredible experience,” Maurice told Panthers team reporter Jameson Olive ahead of the game. “I do have a pretty good spectrum of emotions in my career: tensions, pressures, darkness, light, extreme sadness, incredible joy. I do get flashes of it when you allow yourself to.”
Maurice’s career began in Hartford, and he followed the franchise when it moved from Connecticut to Raleigh, North Carolina, becoming the Carolina Hurricanes.
The first glimpse of Maurice’s playoff chops came in 2002, when he led the small-market Hurricanes to series wins over the Montreal Canadiens, New Jersey Devils and Toronto Maple Leafs to claim the Prince of Wales trophy in the pre-salary cap era.
Maurice was let go during the 2003-04 season, and he didn’t get another shot at the helm of an NHL club until Toronto hired him ahead of the 2006-07 campaign for what was a two-year stint.
He was then re-hired by Carolina, where he led the Canes to another Eastern Conference Final in 2009 before being dismissed again during the 2011-12 season.
In 2013-14, Maurice embarked on a lengthy tenure coaching the Winnipeg Jets, as he led another recently-relocated franchise in a run highlighted by four consecutive Stanley Cup Playoff berths from 2018 to 2021.
Maurice then landed in Sunrise. In each of his three seasons with Florida prior to this one, he’s guided them to at least the Stanley Cup Final.
In total, Maurice owns a regular season record of 950-799-99-151. His 99 ties rank him 31st in that regard in NHL history, despite the fact that the majority of his coaching tenure has taken place after the NHL abolished the tie ahead of the 2005-06 season.
