Maurice admits he lost 'love of the game' before resigning from Jets

Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice admitted his heart was no longer in it when he decided to step down from his post with the Winnipeg Jets in December 2021.

"This might be too much of a simplistic answer, but it's true," he told NHL.com's Mike Zeisberger. "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."

Maurice declined to get into details about what ended his desire to coach the Jets, but he said he was dealing with more than people realized.

"The answer is no," he said. "It's also something I'm not going to go into detail about. The most succinctly I can put it is: I needed to be off the bench for me personally."

Maurice is riding high with the Panthers, who currently lead their second-round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-0 and are fresh off upsetting the record-setting Boston Bruins in seven games.

Maurice was brought in last offseason in favor of Andrew Brunette, who guided the Cats to a Presidents' Trophy in 2022 and was a Jack Adams finalist. A return to coaching wasn't on Maurice's radar until Florida called.

"It's funny how life works," Maurice said. "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."

Maurice has also coached the then-Hartford Whalers, Carolina Hurricanes, and Maple Leafs in his 25-year career. He ranks sixth on the all-time coaching wins list at 817.