Coaching, playoff experience among intangibles to watch in Stanley Cup Final

The 2024 Stanley Cup Final begins on Saturday with the Florida Panthers of the Eastern Conference facing the Edmonton Oilers from the West. 

Championships are won with the top players being top players. They are won with perseverance, skill and sometimes luck. But they are also won with a long list of intangibles. 

Two of those vital intangibles are playoff experience and coaching. 

The Panthers made it to the Stanley Cup Final last spring, eventually losing to the Vegas Golden Knights in five games. The Oilers will play in their first Final in 18 years. 

On the bench, Florida is led by veteran coach Paul Maurice, who has 1,849 NHL games under his belt since 1995. Maurice became the youngest coach in NHL history to reach 1,000 games in 2010 and has coached in two Stanley Cup Finals. 

Edmonton is a bit of a different story, with first-year coach Kris Knobluach behind the bench. Knoblauch was hired by the Oilers early in the 2023-24 season and has just 69 games of NHL coaching experience. 

Will either of these be the difference? 

Frank Seravalli: We’ve talked about the largest gap between two Stanley Cup Final cities. How about the largest gap between two NHL coaches in history? Consider the math here. NHL games regular season coached: Paul Maurice: 1,849, Kris Knoblauch: 69… This will pass the 2002 Final, which featured Scotty Bowman against Paul Maurice… Experience on the bench, experience playing in the Cup Final, does that mean anything to you? 

Colby Cohen: I think the bench probably is the one area. Just because Paul Maurice has been around the NHL for so long. There are so few situations that he hasn’t seen, he probably has a little bit more of an opportunity to get ahead of certain things… Knoblauch, who’s done an unbelievable job… I would just think in this situation, you would give the advantage to Paul Maurice… I think five guys on the Edmonton Oilers have played in a cup… I was a part of a Stanley Cup team that didn’t have a ton of Stanley Cup experience. Guys like [Patrice Bergeron], guys like [Milan Lucic], that was all their first kick at the can in 2011, and it didn’t seem to matter. 

You can watch the full episode here: