Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice admits he lost his love for the game after working for this Canadian team

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Matt Garland
May 6, 2023 (8:21)

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The current coach of the Florida Panthers Paul Maurice has his team rolling in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Nobody thought they had a chance against the reigning Presidents Trophy winning Boston Bruins but they outlasted them in seven. Maurice now has his team two wins away from advancing to the Conference Final.

In December 2021, Maurice had a very different feeling about the game. He was the head coach of the Winnipeg Jets at the time, when he shocked the hockey world and resigned from the Jets and quit hockey entirely.

Mike Zeisberger of NHL.com spoke with Maurice, who revealed what happened.

"This might be too much of a simplistic answer, but it's true,» he said, «I'd lost my love of the game. And it was affecting me. And I found it again."

"This has been a challenging year for everything we've went through. But at the same time it's been fun for me.»

Florida hired him ahead of the 2022-23 season as their head coach.

"It's funny how life works. It was in very early June. Everything was perfect. I truly wasn't missing anything. I wasn't yearning for anything. I'd had two teams reach out to me from the time I stepped down to the time I'd stepped back. It was easy for me. I didn't see a fit. I wasn't interested. I'm good. And then Panthers GM Bill Zito called. And he said: �I'm just seeing what your interest is.' And I said, �I'm interested in the Florida Panthers.'»

Florida was 13 points out of a Wild Card position in January. It has been impressive what Maurice and company have been able to do. He has his team realistically looking at the Stanley Cup and it's only ten more wins away.