Paul Maurice will be back behind the bench with the Winnipeg Jets next year, after the coach and team agreed on a new four-year contract on Wednesday. Maurice, who replaced Claude Noel half-way through the season this year, injected new life into the Jets and got them back into the playoff race. While they would ultimately fall short, many had the team dead and buried before he came on board, and just getting back into the picture was quite the accomplishment.
Maurice indicated it wasn’t long after his January 12th hiring that he knew he wanted to be back with the Jets.
“Somewhere between Day one and the last day,” Maurice told a conference call with reporters Wednesday afternoon. “When things started to wobble a little bit, it was the way the players responded to being pushed a little bit (that convinced me).
“I made sure I was comfortable there, that I could be part of the solution and work with the players and staff, so it was fairly early on.”
The new deal didn’t take long after Maurice consulted with his family following the end of the season.
“I know what I’ve been saying from the beginning (so I figured) I can’t now do this by phone so I got on a plane (to Columbus, Ohio) yesterday. Kevin and I agreed to what was fair and that took no time at all.
“They (his family) all smiled and said, ‘Let’s go.’ So I called Kevin back and said we’re all in.”
Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff said at a press conference earlier today that the deal with his new coach was easy and didn’t take long.
“We got right into negotiations and quite honestly, it really didn’t take that long,” he said. “It was a pleasure to have discussions about the future and to see his excitement.”
Cheveldayoff called Paul Maurice, “an impressive hockey coach. An impressive person as well.”
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