‘It was a selfless act’

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This article was published 17/12/2021 (1360 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There were clear signs Adam Lowry took no solace Friday in a major NHL promotion for his father.

The Winnipeg Jets veteran told reporters he and his teammates were, collectively, on the hook for Paul Maurice’s shocking departure as head coach and the internal move to replace the long-time bench boss with Dave Lowry for the rest of the 2021-22 season.

“You know, I think you kind of have a sense that maybe we let Paul down,” said the 28-year-old centre. “He’s the coach that gave me my opportunity. He’s the coach that’s allowed me to be who I want to be as a player, as a person. I think it’s more in that sense. It’s not necessarily a shot at my ego. I can take the criticism. I can take that stuff. But when it affects other people, it becomes a little more personal I guess you could say.

“I think everyone feels a sense where maybe if we’d played a little better, maybe if we’d performed a little better, we wouldn’t be having this conversation today.”

To answer the obvious question, yes, an NHL head coach has, in the past, commanded a squad that included his own son. Most recently, Bill Dineen guided Philadelphia during the early ’90s with his son, Kevin, on the team, and Bernie (Boom Boom) Geoffrion coached his then-21-year-old son, Dan, with the Montreal Canadiens during the 1979-80 campaign.

Dave Lowry was hired as an assistant coach just over a year ago after spending the 2019-20 season as head coach of the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings. He shared space behind the bench with Maurice during the abbreviated 2020-21 campaign and again this season as the Jets won just 13 of their first 28 games.

Maurice was in his ninth campaign in Winnipeg after taking over a squad spinning off the rails in January 2014, leading the Jets to five playoff appearances. But the Central Division team was stuck in a deep rut the last four weeks, winning just four of its last 13 games.

Maurice, citing personal and professional reasons, resigned on Thursday night, although there’s a strong belief he saved his boss, general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff, from pulling the pin on his employment.

Jets centre Mark Scheifele said Maurice jumped on a grenade for his troops.

“In my mind it was a selfless act,” he said. “Trying to do more for this team. He’s a wonderful human being, he’s very genuine. He’s a guy that loves this organization, loves this city, loves this community. And he’s said that over and over. He just thinks that this team needs another voice… that’s his decision. We can’t change that. All we can do is come to work (Friday night) and battle for each other in this room.”

Josh Morrissey said the guys in the jerseys need to take responsibility for the less-than-flashy returns.

“For sure, as a player we all have jobs within the organization, within the roster and the team. As a player it’s your job to fulfill your responsibilities the best that you can. When the team’s underperforming, that doesn’t just fall on the coach. The coach can’t go out on the ice,” said the sixth-year defenceman. “Obviously that’s where you have to as a player try to bring your best, whatever that is. We know we can be better. We are going to be better. So far, that’s been the conversation this morning. We can be better and it has to happen right away.”

Speaking with the media, Cheveldayoff suggested, perhaps, everyone associated with the hockey department “got too comfortable” during Maurice’s his long tenure.

Tuesday’s lacklustre 4-2 defeat to the visiting Buffalo Sabres shone a spotlight on that complacency, although Winnipeg two-way forward Andrew Copp said the coaching move reinforced that will no longer be tolerated.

“It’s not that we got too comfortable. We didn’t know how to be uncomfortable anymore,” Copp said. “When you’re uncomfortable, sometimes that makes you perform that much better. It gets you out of your comfort zone and makes you push to new limits, push yourself harder than you knew you could, that sort of thing.

“If you feel, no matter how hard you perform you’re going to continue in your role, that’s comfortability. I don’t think we had that. Now, that there’s a new voice, a new person making decisions. If I don’t have a good night tonight, what’s going to happen? That can go across the board and that can improve performance.

“Maybe it’s just a little eye-opening. But I think we’ve known the situation, how we’ve been playing, and that we haven’t been playing up to our standards. I don’t think that’s a secret at all for us,” he added.

The father of Adam was an assistant coach for two different NHL clubs. Most recently, he worked for the Los Angeles Kings in 2017-18 and 2018-19 under head coaches John Stevens and Willie Desjardins. His other NHL coaching experience was as an assistant for the Calgary Flames for three seasons from 2009 to 2012 under head coach Brent Sutter.

After a 19-year playing career and more than 1,000 NHL games, he began his coaching career with the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen and also had a long stint with the Victoria Royals.

Adam Lowry expects the transition from the only NHL coach for whom he’s gone to battle to his dad to be relatively seamless.

“Paul was very prepared. Paul was very articulate in the message he wanted. Looking at teams in the past that my dad has coached, he wants them to play fast and he wants them to play with the puck. He really just tries to hold them accountable to their actions,” said the 6-5, 210-pound forward.

“I don’t know if the style of game is necessarily going to change. That’s what I would expect. He wants us to play fast, he wants us to play with pace. He’s going to come to the rink (against Washington) and try to give us the best chance to win, and make sure we’re as prepared as possible, so we can go out and execute the game plan…”

jason.bell@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @WFPJasonBell