Florida, which won the 2024 Stanley Cup, has many heroes. This includes team captain Alexander Barkov, who did not let the NHL’s top stars breathe during these playoffs; and Sergei Bobrovsky, who made important saves at the most important moments; and Sam Rinehart, who became the author of the “golden” record; and many others. They were all brought together by the team’s general manager, Bill Zito, and Paul Maurice led them to success as head coach.
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The Panthers coach is no stranger to Russian fans. In 2012, Paul briefly visited Russia and spent a year leading Metallurg Magnitogorsk. Maurice came to the KHL with a resume that was not the most attractive for North America, but at the same time quite good. In two visits to Carolina, which was still Hartford when he started working for the franchise, the Canadian managed to take the Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup final, where they lost to Detroit, and was once again one step away from the series. decisive, says the specialist. This was the first time we received a caliber of this type. In the interim between the Hurricanes and the Hurricanes, the future Steelworkers coach spent two seasons in Toronto; As you can imagine, that part of the coach’s career was unsuccessful.
“For me, they were new people from the NHL, from another world,” said current CSKA coach Ilya Vorobyov, who was on the Magnitogorsk team in the 2012/2013 season, about working with Maurice and his assistant Tom Barrasso. “They are fanatics about their business, who get up early and are the first to come to work, talking only about hockey 24 hours a day. The smallest details were discussed, such as the placement of the sticks on the ice in defense. At that time, such things did not exist in the Russian coaching school, but now they do. It was very interesting.”
“At first I decided to look at everything with my own eyes. And it was a great pleasure for me to visit Magnitogorsk, in particular the conversation with Mr. Rashnikov. Both he and Mr. Velichkin received me wonderfully. I remember my thought when I left: this is a fantastic opportunity from a professional point of view. You have coached in the NHL your entire life and have worked in other North American leagues. But try to implement your ideas here, where there is, in particular, the language barrier! This is the biggest challenge. We have to look for other ways to be fully understood…” Maurice himself told the Championship shortly after his appointment.
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The Canadian started his journey in Russia with a trophy, albeit a pre-season one, then Metallurg won the Romazan Memorial at home. Thanks to the lockout in the NHL, Magnitka received a significant boost: the quota of three people with a valid contract abroad was filled by Evgeni Malkin, Nikolai Kulemin and Sergei Gonchar. During the season, Maurice used the latter as a mentor for young defenseman Viktor Antipin. That season, the Metallurg graduate made his debut for a full year in adult hockey and became one of the key players in the team’s defense.
But the most important role, of course, was played by the Kulemin-Malkin-Mozyakin line, which became a real nightmare for opponents: the last two were among the top three scorers of the regular season, and Nikolai managed to score 38 points. in 36 games. An advantage was the presence of Mats Zuccarello and Ryan O’Reilly on the team. However, the latter’s brother Cal left a much larger mark on Magnitogorsk.
Maurice won his first victory in the KHL only at the third attempt: after defeats in Chelyabinsk and Yekaterinburg, Metallurg beat the current Gagarin Cup winners Dynamo Moscow at home. At that time, the Canadian was still settling in a new place and, it must be said, he approached the adaptation very responsibly: he preferred to live in the club than in an apartment, he became intensely involved in Russian culture and also devoted a lot of time to work with the Magnitogorsk system – he tried to get as involved as possible in the life of the main and youth teams, and also established his own philosophy, while trying to absorb the best of our hockey.
Paul Maurice and Ilya Vorobyov on the Metallurg bench
Photo: Alexander Ovcharov, photo.khl.ru
At the end of the season, Maurice already saw differences in hockey in North America and Russia”: What didn’t work at key moments of the season? Really get the team going so they enjoy hockey. In Russia this is perceived a little differently. For example, in the NHL the seventh game is the most important, but when playing this game a hockey player should enjoy it, because there are very few such games in his career. And if we compare training, in Russia men go to train to work, but in the modern world you can also enjoy work, no matter how difficult it may be. “At Metallurg, all the guys worked, but at the same time they did not get any enthusiasm for this work,” the coach said shortly after Magnitogorsk’s elimination from the playoffs, where the Steelworkers lost to Salavat in the seventh game of the first. round on its ice.
A year later, the Gagarin Cup will come to Magnitogorsk for the first time, but without Paul: Mike Keenan will lead the Foxes (in Maurice’s luggage?) To the first KHL championship. At that point, the former Metallurg mentor will return to the world’s premier league, where he will take over as Winnipeg’s head coach.
“Work in Russia? This is an experience that would help you work anywhere. There are few coaches in the NHL who have worked on both big ice and small ice and understand a different culture of people. The professional development of the coach from this is very, very strong. It wasn’t easy for me here,” Maurice admits.
That experience didn’t help him succeed with the Jets, but I’d like to believe it played a role in winning his and Florida’s first Stanley Cup. And although Maurice did not manage to achieve real success in Russia, 11 years later he achieved the main victory of his life.
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