Maurice the true MVP

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/04/2015 (3805 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Paul Maurice likes to deflect credit to his players when it comes to discussing their growth as men and leaders. Forget it. It’s genuine humility on the part of Maurice, but it’s simply not true.

Maurice’s best quality as a coach is his ability to lead. The Winnipeg Jets bench boss took an 84-point team that won 37 games and missed the playoffs a year ago and wrung 43 wins, 99 points and a trip to the post-season from them. In the Central Division, the NHL’s’s toughest. Maurice’s Jets had a 16-8-5 record in their own division, and that’s paramount when considering their prospects in the playoffs.

Despite their eighth-place seed in the Western Conference the Jets are a dangerous team. Big and fast and emblematic of Maurice’s brand of hockey.

Hard-edged and resistant to adversity.

Maurice didn’t make these gains with the help of a lottery pick or high-priced elite free agent.

He changed the systems to better suit the attributes he wanted to focus on, but it wasn’t technical coaching that transformed the Jets. It’s been more about the heart than the mind.

Mysteries

This group of players didn’t unlock the mysteries whose solutions eluded them for years on their own. They may have turned the key, but Maurice had to give it to them first.

“We did a good job separating what was the players’ job and what was the coaches’ job. Clearly defining that. We did our job. But far more importantly, the players took the things they were responsible for and they handled them,” said Maurice, reflecting late Saturday afternoon on the changes his team has undergone this season.

That subtlety is the essence of why Maurice has been successful with the Jets. He’s a student of the human condition, and he understands today’s NHL player can’t be bent to another man’s will.

The coach points to a direction and way of doing things. He delivers his message. But the players must pick it up and carry it. They have to do the digging.

A coach can’t be fake. He has to be genuine and clear. And he has to deliver success. Players want to win, and they’ll follow a message that leads to victory. But they have to see it and achieve tangible success or they’ll abandon it.

Clarity is key. That’s Maurice. When he wants to say something, he fixes his eyes on yours and he says it. There’s no misunderstanding. It’s either like a kiss on the lips or a punch in the mouth.

The core of the Jets, during the dark seasons that always ended short of the playoffs, wasn’t made up of bad people and poor hockey players. But they were unable to find their path as a group.

By the time Maurice arrived, they were tired of losing. They were ready to listen. To try it someone else’s way and to completely immerse themselves in that formula. Maurice walked into the dressing room steeped in credibility, with over 1,000 games on his sheet.

He put it down and they picked it up. When it worked right away, the sell became easy.

In a very short time, Maurice took a team of habitual losers and transformed them. Pushing the Jets out of a game used to be strategy No. 1 for the opposition. No longer.

The Jets don’t win games on style and awesome displays of skill. They bang away and defend. Their goals against this season, 209, is top 10 in the NHL. Last season it was near the bottom of the league.

Maurice wanted to make his team hard to score on. It was at the top of his teachings. But in the end, the decision to defend must come from the players. That’s the biggest difference in the Jets from a year ago. They’re willing to check and do so consistently.

Hiring Maurice wasn’t a reach. It was the safe bet at the time. But it was by no means an automatic home run. No one, not Maurice or Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff, knew how it would work.

“You hope you fit,” said Maurice.

Fair to say he does.

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Cheveldayoff is the architect of this team. But he needs a foreman. He’s got one.

Maurice may or may not be coach of the year. But he’s coach of the Jets.

A fit that will last longer than any trophy presentation.

gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @garylawless