From nearly retiring to winning the Stanley Cup, Paul Maurice’s extension with the Panthers was well-deserved

Since becoming an NHL head coach at the green age of 28, to guiding the Florida Panthers to the franchise’s first Stanley Cup, Paul Maurice’s hockey odyssey featured plenty of twists and turns that will (hopefully) be featured in a book one day.

Maurice’s efforts with the Panthers, which included taking the team to back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals, earned him a multi-year contract extension. The 57-year-old is second all-time in games coached (1,856), only trailing Hall of Fame bench boss Scotty Bowman (2,141). His 873 career wins are fourth all-time.

However, this recent stretch of success almost didn’t happen. After leaving the Winnipeg Jets following the 2021-22 season, Maurice complimented stepping away from the game for good. Yet, he took a chance at the job in Florida, and it is safe to say it worked out.

On Wednesday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discussed the new contract, and the story of how Maurice found his love for coaching once again.

Frank Seravalli: I think back to the two different times in Paul Maurice’s career that he thought it might be over. I can remember tracking him down a couple of years back. I fished out his number, called him and he was sitting on the edge of his dock in Manitoba, on the lake, fishing. I said, “What are you up to? When are you coming back?” He said, “I might never.”

He needed a special opportunity to bring him back. I think his exit from Winnipeg was way more acrimonious than what a lot of us understood at the time. He gets a special Florida team that, to be fair, won the President’s Trophy…he just seemed to be the right guy for the the right team at the right time. The passion is there…you can’t fake it, and he’ll never fake it. Really nice to seem to get rewarded with an extension, it’s well-deserved.

You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…