When coach Maurice talks, players and people listen

Opinion

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This article was published 25/01/2019 (2417 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Give Paul Maurice credit. He’s a heck of a pitchman.

The Winnipeg Jets head coach clearly has his players buying what he’s selling as they sit near the top of the NHL standings for a second straight season with a 31-15-2 record. That’s generating plenty of buzz around the league as they appear to be a bona fide Stanley Cup contender.

With the all-star break upon us, Maurice has been using his notoriously slick communication skills on a much larger audience as prepares to step behind the bench tonight in San Jose to lead the Central Division squad in the annual mid-season showcase of the stars, including a pair of his own players in Blake Wheeler and Mark Scheifele

In doing so, Maurice is playing a central role in pushing the merits of both his organization and the city he’s called home since taking the reins in 2014.

“At the best of times, the players don’t want to listen to the coach. They’re sure not listening to him at an all-star game. I’m going to try to pick a good suit and stand in the right spot on the bench and smile a lot,” Maurice cracked in self-deprecating fashion as he appeared on the Jim Rome radio show earlier this week.

A pretty good opening line, and one that quickly endeared himself to the host.

“My man, Paul Maurice. That’s a great plan,” replied Rome, who went on to tell his approximately two million listeners that his 10-minute talk with Maurice “more than lived up to the hype… that was a blast.”

Now, let me pause to say I think it makes us seem small when we go gaga patting ourselves on the back any time someone outside of ‘Peg City gives us the time of day.

But it’s noteworthy that the coach of a Canadian hockey team was given a platform on Rome’s popular syndicated show, which is broadcast in more than 200 markets on the CBS Sports Network. Rome rarely talks puck, but clearly had a heads-up that Maurice would make for a good guest in “The Jungle,” the nickname for his show.

Maurice made the most of the opportunity, spending much of the time giving a global audience a crash course on what he loves about Winnipeg. It’s a theme that has continued as the week went on and Maurice held court with a huge throng of media members in San Jose, sharing plenty of insight from his 22 years of coaching along with funny stories of the past.

“You know the rap about Winnipeg that existed in the past. Players would talk about it being cold, dark, boring. Hell, the San Jose Sharks wondered if there was Wi-Fi,” Rome said, serving it up on a tee for Maurice in response to this past season’s playful promotional video that backfired.

Maurice hit it out of the park with a lengthy reply that is sure to make him even more popular around these parts — and might not hurt a future organizational sales pitch on an unrestricted free agent, either.

“They’ve got wonderful, wonderful people. I don’t know if you’d ever fly into Winnipeg to go shopping. But if you’re looking to have a good life, to raise a family, to have good people around it. And for us, hockey is our passion, it’s our life and that’s true up here. It’s not like any other Canadian city, though, because they lost their NHL team, and they came back. They love them differently. It’s the prodigal son. They love this team and the players on it,” Maurice said.

“It’s a wonderful place to live and work, but most importantly, it’s a great place to raise your family. When you have kids and you feel that responsibility of giving them an opportunity to have a good life. Winnipeg, you couldn’t ask for anything more.”

This isn’t a case of Maurice blowing smoke. Maurice and his family truly enjoy it here and have become part of the community fabric. It’s certainly a common thread we’ve seen through the True North organization, where loyalty goes a long way.

To help drive it home for his listeners, Rome played off a previous comment made by Wheeler, who compared Winnipeg’s love of the Jets to the same relationship people in small-market Green Bay have with the NFL’s Packers.

“I work in pro sports my whole life and the best thing I can say is when I die and I gotta meet St. Pete at the gates, he’s not going to be saying ‘Hey, go on in, you coached in the NHL.’ You know what I mean? There’s got to be more to your life. There’s got to be a bit of a social contract, there’s got to be something that you give back to people,” Maurice said.

“That’s why being in Winnipeg is great. I can work in pro sports and still feel like I’m doing something that’s good for your community, because they’re so connected to it.”

Of course, it’s what Maurice says on the ice during practices, in the dressing room and on the bench during games that matters most. There’s no doubt he has the attention of his players, not to mention their respect.

“My career took off as soon as Paul walked through the door. He doesn’t get the recognition he deserves around the league. I’ve felt that way for a long time,” Wheeler told a horde of media on Thursday in San Jose.

“The fact he wasn’t up for the coach of the year last year, I thought was a real shame. I don’t think those things really matter to him. I think coaching our team, getting the most out of us every single day is what gets him out of bed.

“It’s great for him to get a little recognition at an event like this.”

Maurice is up to 679 career regular-season victories to sit ninth overall in NHL history. Pat Quinn (684) and Dick Irvin (692) are next in sight.

“You go to a coffee shop after a win, you’ve got a lot of happy people. After a loss, they’re still with you, but they’re not quite as happy. So, you feel that connection to your community, that’s a real important thing,” Maurice told Rome.

“We think we’re capable of contending for a Cup, but we don’t think we’re there yet. These two or three months before the season ends are really, really important to us, just in terms of the development of all these young guys. But we think we’re close enough. When the dance starts here in April, we’re confident we’re gonna be there, but we’ve got some work to do to be good.”

There’s no doubt Maurice can talk the talk, as we’ve seen again this week. But in a results-oriented business, he’s also proving he can walk the walk.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg