The Florida Panthers are starting their season as Stanley Cup champions on top of the Atlantic Division with a record of 5-3-1 with 11 points. They trail the Winnipeg Jets, Minnesota Wild, and Dallas Stars for the top spot in the NHL.
Speaking of the Jets, their former coach has made some waves in the media. On Tuesday, the Panthers announced that their head coach Paul Maurice has agreed to a new extension. This move was destined to happen due to his back-to-back Stanley Cup Final appearances and helping lead the team to their first-ever Stanley Cup.
Paul Maurice’s Timeline in Florida
Maurice has decades worth of NHL experience behind the bench, which is why he was brought in as the Panthers’ head coach in 2022. After they were swept in the second round by the Tampa Bay Lightning, the team made the shocking choice to relieve Andrew Brunette of his duties as interim head coach. This was more of a head-scratcher considering Maurice resigned from the Winnipeg Jets in the middle of the season and was unsure if he wanted to coach.
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Maurice would start his Panthers tenure off of a slow start, going 16-17-4 before the start of 2023. He would pick it up and eventually help finish the team 42-32-8. Because of a loss by the Pittsburgh Penguins on April 11, the Panthers made it to the postseason.
Their appearance that season would mark one of the greatest runs by the team in franchise history. In the first round, they upset the Boston Bruins, a team that had the best record in NHL history that season, by a series score of 4-3. In the second round, they took down a tough Toronto Maple Leafs team in five games. In the Eastern Conference Final, they swept the best team in the Metropolitan Division that season, the Carolina Hurricanes, giving the team their first Eastern Conference championship since 1996.
But the run came to a brutal end. The Cats dropped the Stanley Cup Final to the Vegas Golden Knights by a series score of 4-1. Injuries caught up with the team and it ultimately cost them the series. The team used it as a lesson for next season.
The Panthers finished last season with a record of 52-24-6 and 110 points, giving them the Atlantic Division title for the second time in three years. They avenged their demons in the first round as they beat their in-state rival in the Lightning by a series score of 4-1. In the second round, they defeated Boston in back-to-back postseasons, this time by a series score of 4-2. In the Eastern Conference Final, they managed to take down the Presidents’ Trophy-winning New York Rangers by a series score of 4-2, giving them another chance at history. This would be the second time in a row the Panthers have beaten a Presidents’ Trophy winner in the playoffs.
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While there was definitely a scare, as they nearly blew a 3-0 series lead, the Panthers managed to capture their first-ever Stanley Cup this past summer with a Game 7 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.
Since Maurice was hired two summers ago, he has a 99-59-15 regular season record during his time with the franchise, the most playoff wins by a coach in franchise history with 29, and a 7-1 playoff series record. This adds to his total of 873 wins, which makes for the fourth-best in NHL history. He became a massive part of the winning culture that was brought in to bring the team success.
He’s glad he was extended sooner than later, however.
“I’m just thankful, and hopeful, I guess, that the ink dried on that thing,”
Paul Maurice on his recent extension after a 5-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Oct. 22
Regardless of the outcome of their game against the Wild, the extension was well-deserved, and it marks the continuation of a winning era for the Panthers.
