Panthers make a big bet on Maurice

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Like most private businesses, the National Hockey League is driven by results.

There’s a reason why the Tampa Bay Lightning have employed head coach Jon Cooper for 10 years and counting. There is a reason why defenceman Zdeno Chara is deciding on his playing future at the age of 45 – something that would be otherwise laughable for just about any other player in the league. And so on.

That’s not to say it’s a perfect process. Good organizations can identify who is driving the bus, while struggling organizations commit too many resources to those who are passengers. Every NHL franchise wants to win the Stanley Cup, but the blueprint drawn up for reaching that goal is far from uniform across the league.

That brings me to a bit of an under-the-radar story down in Florida, where the Panthers opted to replace head coach Andrew Brunette with Paul Maurice. It was a curious decision for two reasons.

Brunette was a first-year coach who was a finalist for the Jack Adams Award and pushed Florida to the franchise’s first Presidents’ Trophy. Maurice is fresh off a resignation from the Winnipeg Jets, and while he has tremendous experience as a head coach (fourth in games coached), results have varied.

We don’t have the full story for what is, on paper, an odd decision. Perhaps the Panthers decided that Brunette wasn’t the right organizational fit; perhaps the Panthers felt Maurice’s experience would be better served for a team that, despite its regular-season success, flamed out in an ugly manner when it mattered most this postseason. Without more information, it’s hard to judge both decisions – the one to remove Brunette, and the one to replace him with Maurice.

There is no doubt Brunette benefited from the roster