It's Certainly The Culture

It's been a long time since fans in Winnipeg have been able to see Paul Maurice smile. I'm not talking a forced smile about a play where he's happy for a player or proud of a result, but an honest-to-goodness smile because he likes what he's doing. It seemed like Maurice was having himself a good time in his press conference following the 5-2 loss his Panthers suffered tonight at the hands of the Vegas Golden Knights in the opening game of the Stanley Cup Final, and the smile that appeared on his face a number of times during the exchanges with the media seem to point to Maurice really enjoying hockey once again.

Bally Sports Florida and Bally Sports Sun carried the press conference tonight, and I want people to pay close attention to Maurice's general disposition - his facial expressions, his voice, and his candor with the media. You don't need to watch the full 5:24 of the press conference if you don't want to, but I think his overall body language says a lot about working with and for the Panthers. Have a watch below.

From the initial question by Dan Rosen, you can see that Maurice is in a playful mood as he explains how scoring works. His reflection on Pierre Lebrun's question at 1:05 about "rust" showed that he understands his team and isn't going to lean on clichés to explain his team's play. His answer to "Tom" at 3:49 about Bobrovsky sounded more like a teacher working with young students in molding them to think and act a specific way rather than languishing on mistakes that his team did admittedly make, and it's refreshing to see Maurice enjoying his work rather than trying to break bad habits. His outburst at the end of that question about breathing was a fanastic way to break some tension as well.

Here's the rub: if we go back to December 17, 2021, Paul Maurice's statement in resigning as head coach from the Winnipeg Jets reads, "If you'll allow me some arrogance, I feel I'm better positioned than anyone to know that they need a new voice. They haven't quit on me. But they need somebody that can get them to that next place."

Quite the dichotomy in tone for a coach who the players in Winnipeg reportedly loved having as a coach, no?

As reported by ESPN's Greg Wyshynski, "Maurice said he had conversations with Jets management and ownership last summer about whether he was the right coach for the team. There were a couple of occasions this season when he considered leaving the job, but the Jets would win a few games to keep him from doing so."

A coach who is entirely content with teaching and leading his team doesn't initiate those conversations, and we know the Jets had no plans to dismiss Maurice so they weren't the ones bringing up any mention of a change. We know there was a locker room contingent who were partly responsible for pushing the team to where the Jets were going - to deny that is pure ignorance - so I can understand the frsutrations that may creep in for a coach whose most successful season was years prior.

Maurice is a classy individual, though, and he did take the pressure off the players in the Jets' locker room by saying that the COVID pandemic caused him to lose some passion, stating, "If you lose some of that passion for the game, you can still be good, but you can't be as good as you should be. That's how I feel I am." Good coaches will always protect the players, so I commend Maurice for not rolling anyone under the bus.

If we look somewhat deeper, though, we can take Rick Bowness' outbursts from this season and have a pretty good idea why the Jets continued to fall short of expectations. On December 4, 2022, Bowness delivered this message to the media that should have echoed through the locker room, declaring,

"Good or bad, I don't look at it that way. It's just not right to start a game like that," said Bowness. "Listen, I'm the head coach, so I'm responsible for the way we start and getting our team prepared. So that starts with me. The second thing is I'm not a babysitter. These guys are men. They're professionals and they're paid to show up here and go to work.

"My job here is to make that happen. The third thing on that would be: you cannot play this game without passion. Without emotion. You cannot play this game on your heels. And I hate when we're on our heels. It's not right."

You can read that however you like, but, to me, it sounds a lot like his outburst following the quick dismissal of the Jets by the Vegas Golden Knights in this year's playoffs. Here are Rick's words.

It was short, but hardly sweet when describing his team's efforts.

Look, I don't doubt that Maurice lost some of his passion when playing inside cavernous rinks with no fans, but he's a different man in Sunrise right now. He looks happier, he certainly sounds happier, and he seems like he's enjoying every day that he's behind the bench. I would suspect that's partly due to him enjoying coaching again, and nothing makes a coach happier or more engaged than having a team who shows up to learn and responds to the lessons being taught.

Maybe that's the right word: "engaged". His happiness likely stems from that engagement he has with his team, and that comes from the culture of the team where guys like Barkov, Ekblad, and Tkachuk are setting the tone for the rest of the guys. If they show up to the rink to learn and get better each day, it's very likely that other young players will follow their lead. Coaches want their messaging to be heard, so having players who show up to absorb those messages and execute based on the messaging would likely make Paul Maurice a very happy man.

If the Jets do indeed bring back the same core as they had last season where Rick Bowness ripped them in the media on a few occasions, it might be time for the franchise to do some serious reflecting on why they struggle to attract talent, why they struggle to string together wins, and why they struggle in the standings. There's no doubt that the Jets are an extremely talented group of individuals, but that amounts to nothing if they aren't listening to the one person whose systems and ideas may be able to draw out more of that skill and capitalize on it.

Paul Maurice in the Stanley Cup Final shouldn't surprise anyone. When he's having fun and guys are responding to his coaching, he certainly has the skill to help teams win a lot of games. The fact that he's enjoying himself maybe more than ever has behind a bench in Sunrise, Florida is just one more chunk of evidence that whatever the Winnipeg Jets are doing simply will not bring them success.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!