Panthers' Paul Maurice Gets Candid Before Stanley Cup Final

It's three up and three down for Florida Panthers' head coach Paul Maurice.

It is not the end of an inning. It is the middle of a brilliant playoff run where Maurice has coached the Panthers for three seasons and has led Florida to the Stanley Cup Finals after each season.

Florida has three Prince of Wales trophies and a Stanley Cup to show for his efforts. Not bad for a guy who has coached in 1,930 regular season games. His 27 seasons behind the bench are a testament to his fortitude and his grit. He has a chance to lead the Panthers to back-to-back Stanley Cup titles when the Finals start on Wednesday against the Edmonton Oilers in Alberta.

Maurice acknowledged how fortunate he is to coach this franchise. On Saturday after the morning skate, Maurice told reporters the Panthers are the greatest team he ever coached. This includes the team which won the Stanley Cup just last season.

"I'm really careful and I'm not being disrespectful to the other teams I've coached, but the team here is just the best team I've ever coached," Maurice said. "It's really not that close."

Maurice could not adequately describe his feelings for the good fortune he has had in being hired to take over the Panthers. He is a wonderful wordsmith, but had to think hard about how he could describe his feelings about this franchise and the run they are on.

"My experience, fromt he time I started getting off the phone [for introductions after being hired] was 'This team is different and I can't explain it.'" Maurice said. "Now, I'm three years in, and I am starting to understand it a little bit. I do not feel responsible for it. I don't. It's been fun to observe. That's why I don't talk about it because I don't think it's comparative. 'Oh, these guys are just a way better bunch of guys than I had before.' It's not that. These guys are just different."

Maurice acknowledged it all starts with guys like captain Aleksander Barkov, Aaron Ekblad and Matthew Tkachuk. He said they set the standard for which players should be judged. They helped get the team to the point they are at right now. Veterans like Brad Marchand and Seth Jones were obtained just before the 2025 trade deadline.

Maurice took over a team who won the President's Trophy as the NHL's top-regular season team in 2021-2022. However after a second-round loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, general manager Bill Zito knew it was time to make a change.

Maurice took over the team and barely made the playoffs as an eighth seed after a slow start. However, he led the Panthers to their second appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Zito, who is rapidly becoming the top sports executive in South Florida, has seen the move to Maurice pay tremendous dividends.

"It's so rare that you'll have a new coach come in after a Presidents' Trophy," Maurice said. "I got gifted a 122-point team and just shaved 30 points off of it in that first year with my high quality of coaching. So, the drivers, the leaders, the core of this team are elite players.

"We've got a good team here. I'm just trying not to mess it up."