- 14 minutes ago
Florida Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice joins the show to talk about this upcoming season! Coach Maurice talks about Brady and Barkov's dynamic, Brady Tkachuk's Impact, changes going on in the NHL, and all things Sergei Bobrovsky.
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00:00The head coach of your Florida Panthers, Paul Maurice, sitting down with us here.
00:03Coach, how are you?
00:06It's great to have you here.
00:07Definitely love the preseason coach.
00:10Got a little tan.
00:12Mid-season coach.
00:14Bags under my eyes are only at half-mast.
00:17Yeah, I'm feeling pretty good.
00:18Are you excited to yell at people in training camp?
00:21Yeah, I am, in a good way.
00:23How long an answer, how much time we got?
00:25As much as you want, Coach.
00:26Well, the last four years, you know, we got to the final and didn't win, so your hockey team comes
00:31back, short summer, but you left something on the table there, so there's a drive, there's a juice there.
00:37But in the back of your mind, you know, it's not coming for 82 games, we've got to get through
00:41it, and then we win.
00:43And then it's like, oh God, we've got to get through 82 games, and we win.
00:47Coaches are always miserable.
00:48Right, and now, you're coming back for the next year and going, how are we getting through 82 games?
00:54Right.
00:54Because there's just no turnaround time, and for coaches, you're getting two or three weeks off, but for fans to
01:01understand, we start today, basically.
01:05For the coaches, our next day off is going to be the 22nd of December, and you're working every single
01:10day.
01:10It's not a problem.
01:11It's not a complaint.
01:12It's just that's the cost of the business.
01:13Right.
01:13So if you're getting three or four weeks off in the summer, and you're doing it for four straight years,
01:18I think we figured out how to get our coffee intake right, that we can get through it, but you
01:24don't actually mentally recover where you're juiced.
01:27This is the first.
01:28So if I say to you, and answer that question, this is the first training camp, the players are probably
01:34excited about the regular season.
01:37I think it's true.
01:38The first one we came in, I'm not sure they were that excited.
01:41We beat them up in the camp.
01:42It was hard.
01:43And then not sure about the new guy seems to be sometimes he's in a bad mood and telling jokes
01:52at the same time.
01:52They can't figure that out.
01:53I don't know.
01:55But, but that is not just anecdotal.
01:58That's me talking to the players and me going through it for mid July.
02:01You go, oh, this is what it feels like to be human again.
02:04And let's go.
02:05So they're rested and they're fit and they're excited and, and we all want to get that, that feeling office
02:13from last year and we want a chance to win.
02:15So there, there's been an epidemic in professional sports and I want to know how you'd go about this in,
02:21in hockey.
02:23Everybody thinks that the best course of action for the long season is to not play in the preseason.
02:30But, and, and I've always said in football, the coach used to always tell us, you can't get ready to
02:36tackle.
02:37You can't get ready to get hit unless you get hit or get tackled.
02:40How does that work in hockey?
02:42Because you have older guys, guys returning from injury, but you play shifts.
02:48Everybody's got to play.
02:49So that's a great question, by the way.
02:51And you know what?
02:52I know I took a bunch of time off here.
02:54I think all of the guys in the media, their questions were awesome this morning.
02:58We hadn't fatigued, but, but what you're talking about.
03:00We only spent about two weeks talking about that every day.
03:04How are you going to handle this?
03:06Is there something psychological in my room now?
03:08We had 544 man games last year.
03:11Right.
03:12Nobody's going to want to get hurt in exhibition, but you know, but you know that that sets the
03:18stage for you getting hurt.
03:20I know it's not a casual, if you play not to get hurt, you're going to get hurt.
03:24It's true.
03:24Now I can't maybe scientifically prove that, but I know this.
03:28We had eight broken bone, eight fractures.
03:30At the end of the year, we had eight guys with broken bones and we're trying to figure
03:33out the why of it.
03:34Right.
03:34And so we do everything.
03:35We go through equipment testing.
03:37Has that changed?
03:37What's the padding?
03:38We test it.
03:39No, we think they're late that, that this game, so I'm rambling, sorry, but one of the things
03:45that always amazed me in hockey before good visors came in and I lost my eye to a puck
03:51when I was, when I was an amateur.
03:53How come that doesn't happen more like those pucks that there's, there's, you know, we're
03:58going to put up 80 shot attempts a night.
04:00So are they 1200 times a year, but nobody gets hit in the face.
04:04Right.
04:04It's actually that split section reaction time that they have.
04:07It's all the stuff that make these guys, they move out of position.
04:10Right.
04:11And if you're late, so you get injured maybe for two reasons, you're fatigued and you're
04:16late because you're gassed or you're trying not to get hurt.
04:19And if you're trying, so how are we handling it?
04:22Simple.
04:23Somebody run Barky in the first five minutes of our first practice and we can get it, rip
04:27the bandaid off and we get it.
04:28We're going to get hurt.
04:29Right.
04:30We'll decide how hard we're going.
04:32So I'm playing now.
04:34New rules for fans that are just listening.
04:37Nobody can play more than four exhibition games in an organization.
04:40So we have four.
04:41Right.
04:42Players that have played more than 100 games in the NHL can only play two.
04:46Oh.
04:46Oh, okay.
04:47So we're jammed.
04:47So they're trying to.
04:48Well, to give you an idea of this, the change in this league, like when I started training
04:53camp was five or six weeks long, we play 11 exhibition games and we'd bring 120 guys
04:58to camp just to get through that.
05:00It was the biggest waste of energy on you.
05:04It just stressed your staff to cover that.
05:06Okay.
05:07I got less.
05:08So regular season starts two weeks yesterday.
05:12We're playing in a game.
05:13I'm bringing about 49 guys to camp.
05:15Um, and we, we can't drive them in that same way.
05:20I'm playing all the big boys early.
05:23Okay.
05:23So the other way of doing it is you play all your big guys, you let them warm up and
05:27you
05:27get them into it.
05:27I don't, I'm doing the opposite.
05:29We're going hard with our big guys and we're going hard early and we're getting after it.
05:34Right.
05:34And then I'm going to use the last week of camp with the last two exhibition games.
05:37Really then all the guys that are trying out.
05:39That's what you see.
05:40Who are you going to keep?
05:40Yeah, those, those, the guys who are really trying out for those open spots will play
05:44the last two exhibition games, but they will also have had eight days with us to learn
05:47our systems, to give them a chance to do something.
05:50Right.
05:50So give those guys the best chance.
05:52And then in that block of time, it's about six ice sessions before the season.
05:57We're going to run special teams and do a bunch of work that we haven't been able
06:01to do really in the past.
06:02So, but this is an opportunity.
06:04It's a brand new training camp for the entire National Hockey League.
06:08Everybody's going to have a different plan.
06:09We'll have somebody charting every other team's plan.
06:12What did you do?
06:13What did, what did, what was their first team, 10 game outlook?
06:17You know, so yeah.
06:18How hard is it, how hard is it for you?
06:21Who's been around hockey a long time to kind of accept and kind of deal with this new way
06:28of just doing hockey in general, because, you know, being around hockey a long time, you've
06:35seen success and you go, this is the way it has to be done.
06:38And they're telling you, well, but we're not going to do it that way.
06:41There's things that happen in the league that you don't like, right?
06:44The ones that you think maybe aren't necessarily, I'll explain it a different way.
06:48The mistake people make sometimes is they confuse smart and easy.
06:53Hey, this is a smarter way to do it.
06:55No, it's not.
06:56It's just easy.
06:57That's why we like it.
06:57So they'll do that.
06:58Okay.
06:59And then the idea that we can't fitness test our players anymore on, on a, there's
07:05no exertion testing in the NHL.
07:07No one punitive skills.
07:08It's the first year.
07:09So we can do biometric testing, weight, skin fold, and we do, we do a lot of that.
07:14You can't do a conditioning test.
07:15Correct.
07:16First year.
07:17It's unfair.
07:18Players, the players association.
07:20Okay.
07:20Okay.
07:21So you, I don't like that.
07:22Right.
07:22Because I don't like that.
07:24If I'm coaching a young team, you don't know where they are, I don't know where all these
07:27guys are.
07:28I have no, I love it for our team.
07:30And I think it's an advantage.
07:32So I, I'm not complaining.
07:33And, and here's why I know those guys are working out and they're doing it on their own.
07:38Correct.
07:38They're going to drive.
07:39I also know there's a guy somewhere else on another team.
07:42It's not working out quite as hard because there's no fitness.
07:44So you don't have to worry about your guys.
07:46So I don't worry because I've got this kind of group that, that weight room has been full.
07:50Eckblad and Verhege never left here.
07:52They just trained all year.
07:54Mm-hmm.
07:55Gustav's Forsling.
07:56And then I also know because the new guys that come in and go, everybody's in your weight
07:59room.
08:00Like every player is in your weight room.
08:02And they're all animals back there.
08:03And I'm not taking credit for that.
08:05That, that's, that's a player.
08:06Like we have our sports science people.
08:08And if you get the right guys there, you're a fit guy, you'll go to that gym.
08:13You're not coming to the gym where I'm training you.
08:15You're going to where the, you know, because you're looking at me going, yeah, I'm not going
08:18with that guy.
08:19Right.
08:19So, but you will train with fit guys.
08:21You'll be excited about it.
08:22That's what's going on back there.
08:23We got good science guys.
08:25We got all three of our fitness guys are ripped and they're, and they're great men.
08:30So we got that going.
08:31That's an advantage for the Florida Panthers, I believe.
08:34So I'm open to all of this.
08:37I got a little different set of deck that I'm playing with here with the kind of men that
08:41we have.
08:41Yeah.
08:42And then if, if it's makes it harder, if something comes a long way, it makes you
08:46harder.
08:47That's one of 15 things that's going to happen to you that year.
08:49If you bitch and complain about that one, you're not handling the other 14 either.
08:53Right.
08:54Like some things just suck.
08:56So I do like a shorter camp and this is me getting older.
09:01I don't want to do three weeks.
09:02And, and, and we got, we got a great coach in our American, we got great coaching through
09:07our system.
09:08So I don't have to coach all the American hockey league guys.
09:11I'm not saying I'm, I'm not saying I'm too good to do that.
09:13I don't have the energy to coach 75 players, but I go harder after 50 for a week and then
09:17I can get these guys right.
09:18And then they get handed off to the other guy.
09:21I, it should be made for a better product.
09:23I think I'm all for protecting the players.
09:28Um, I think that we're ahead of a bunch of teams in terms of, I know that we're ahead
09:33of a bunch of teams.
09:34I think we're in the mix of the most elite team of taking care of our players.
09:39And that's not a soft thing.
09:41These guys work their asses off every night and they play hard and you take care of them.
09:45You get the recovery, you get the right food and our owner has been so good with making
09:53sure that we have all the resources to recover our hockey team.
09:58Then that's a great thing.
09:59Then you can be, be a little soft, be kind, be caring with your guys because they do the
10:03hard work.
10:04So you should love them.
10:05And, and so I'm, how do I feel about all the changes?
10:08I think it's great.
10:10I truly do.
10:11The men that I coach now, they're way better humans than we were 30 years ago.
10:15You know that?
10:16No, they are like, you know, that idea.
10:18Oh, they don't respect the game anymore.
10:20Are you kidding me?
10:21When they used to hang over the boards and say, I'm going to kill you.
10:24They meant it.
10:25Like they were actually plotting your death.
10:27Right.
10:27These guys are way better people.
10:29I think, uh, they're, they're more fit.
10:34They love the game.
10:35They're better with the fans.
10:36They're better with media.
10:38It's, it's just a great time to be in the NHL.
10:41Coach Paul Maurice sitting here with us at a Florida pants media.
10:43I want to ask you about the human level of it because, uh, I was crushed about this
10:46because I love the guy.
10:47This is the first athlete.
10:48My son was crushed about leaving because he's 10.
10:51What are you going to most miss most about Sergei Bobrovsky, either the guy or the player?
10:55Uh, because I mean, he was such a staple down here for so long.
10:59Again, like that's such a great question.
11:01And you think about these things.
11:03It's absolutely the man.
11:05Um, very interesting, interesting guy.
11:07When I first got here, uh, I think things don't go well for him.
11:11They didn't go well for me.
11:12Like we were no good and he couldn't stop the puck.
11:14So at some point there, I gave Spencer Knight the job and that was fairly early.
11:19That was in November and that was pretty tough for Sergei.
11:22Right.
11:22But God, man, it wasn't that hard.
11:24The other guy was stopping more pucks.
11:25This isn't that hard.
11:27So we, we get to Vancouver, uh, on a road trip about the middle of the season.
11:31I don't even really even know Sergei, but I lived a year in Russia.
11:34So I thought, I'm just going to learn about it.
11:37So we went for a walk around the hotel and I bet you we took 15 laps of that hotel.
11:42We walked for about an hour.
11:43It was freezing cold out and he just talked about his life.
11:46And I was just left with what an incredibly interesting life.
11:50What an awesome man.
11:52And that's what I'm going to miss.
11:53Our conversations were about his family, his kids, um, how much fun he's having.
12:01I was really interested in what he was changing because he was, you know, he had, he had a lot
12:08of things going on.
12:09Like he, he is so into it that, that he would script every minute of his day.
12:14And then I think in some ways that maybe he lost a little love of the game.
12:18You get so focused on winning, right?
12:20You just, and then that came back where he's falling around.
12:22I'm going to miss the man.
12:24Um, this is, this is inevitable and it's going to be painful because anybody here that's got two rings, right?
12:32As part of this, this first chapters of our story.
12:36And when they leave, it's going to be inconsolable.
12:39We can't do it without them.
12:40Uh, and it's going to happen to all of these players, all of these coaches, maybe not the GM.
12:46Cause he's that good.
12:47He may just stay here forever.
12:48And that would be the best thing for Florida.
12:50Um, we're all going and I'm happy for him.
12:54He had a chance to do something he wanted to do.
12:56He made it.
12:57And so I've got nothing but for love for that guy.
12:59And I'm happy for that guy.
13:01Um, the Brady Kachuk trade.
13:03I remember it was, I think it was father's day.
13:05Yeah.
13:05I looked at Twitter.
13:06I was like, I can't believe this is out.
13:07I can't believe Bill Zito did it again.
13:09Yeah.
13:09So what's your, what was your, when did you know it was going to happen?
13:13And what was your reaction?
13:13Like, I want to tell you the truth about these things.
13:16I mean, I can't give you all the details, but I'm only about 36 hours ahead of you on that
13:20one.
13:21Truly.
13:22So here's, here's the way this works.
13:25I got, I got hired.
13:26Uh, I'm still living in Winnipeg in my house and I'm interviewing Sylvain LeFain, one of the assistant coaches at
13:31my house.
13:32I got a call from Bill.
13:33He says, I think I got a chance to get Matthew Kachuk.
13:37And okay.
13:37He's telling me, you know, he's pretty good.
13:39Cause he nailed it.
13:40He said, I'm going to have to pay a lot for him.
13:42Everybody's going to hate the deal and I'm going to get murdered all summer for it.
13:46Exactly what happened.
13:47People forget that he just got, well, you just got fleeced.
13:51But if I get a chance to do it, I'm going to do it.
13:53Okay, good.
13:53I hang up the phone and in my head and I'll just, I'll take all the profanity out of it.
13:57There's no way in hell you're getting married or Matthew Kachuk, right?
14:03I don't know.
14:03I think he called me back 30 minutes later.
14:05Yeah.
14:05I just did the deal.
14:06What?
14:07Seth Jones.
14:09Hey, what about Seth Jones?
14:10Yeah.
14:11Awesome.
14:11Awesome.
14:12But we ain't ever getting them.
14:13Like we're not getting them.
14:15That's in my head.
14:16I don't say that to Bill now because I've been burned once on this thing here.
14:20And the Brady Kachuk is the exact same thing.
14:22You know, Seth Jones walks through the door and I'm like, oh my God, my guy's a genius.
14:25And then, you know, it's similar.
14:28What do you think about Brady?
14:30And now I'm like a cat smiling.
14:34Brady's possibility?
14:35Like, I don't say, again, don't say anything.
14:37I just say, yeah, pretty good player.
14:39I could probably squeeze him in and Brady's here.
14:43So one of the things that is special about Bill is his optimism.
14:48Part of the reason good things happen is that he allows himself to think about good things.
14:52About, hey, what if?
14:53What if we could add this player?
14:56And I just kind of came to this realization.
14:59I think the biggest impact Brady's, I think we can have a really positive impact on Brady's career.
15:04Being able to share some of the leadership load for sure.
15:07But I think style-wise, he fits the way we, he can do, he can be successful here.
15:11And I almost hate saying this before camp starts.
15:15And the reason is I played Samurai Night with Barkov for 20 games.
15:20And they had done it the year before I got here.
15:22And it didn't work.
15:23Like, no points.
15:24They're both dying on the vine.
15:25But you're looking at it going, what?
15:27This has to work.
15:29And it's like that to the point that when I come back the next year, I try it again.
15:33And off they go.
15:34So I feel a little bit.
15:37Barkov has never played with a big man that can control the puck.
15:40And that's Brady.
15:41He's big.
15:42He's fast.
15:43Barkov is the big man that can control the puck on that line.
15:46But that's a lot of heavy lifting for him every night.
15:50Now, Reinhardt can find the holes finished.
15:52And he's as smart as the day is long.
15:54So there is something there.
15:55Even if it doesn't work out of the gate, this guy actually, we talk about, you know, Brady, how great
16:01he is.
16:02He's going to be great for Barkov because he's never played with a man like that.
16:06Cool.
16:06Paul Maurice, we appreciate the time, man.
16:08Thank you so much.
16:09All right.
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