Paul Maurice keeps stacking up the kind of résumé that makes NHL history feel close enough to touch.
The Florida Panthers coach landed at No. 3 in TheHockeyNews.com’s latest NHL coach rankings, a spot that put him ahead of other Stanley Cup-winning coaches such as Jared Bednar, Joel Quenneville and Mike Sullivan. The outlet is counting down every coach from No. 32 to No. 1, with the rankings based on accomplishments, short- and long-term history, expectations and general reputation.
For Maurice, the placement is a reflection of what he’s done in Florida since arriving as the team’s head coach. The Panthers hired the now 59-year-old and he quickly reshaped the organization’s culture. In his first season, Florida slipped into the playoffs as the second wild-card team and pulled off what was described as arguably the biggest upset in NHL history before making a run to the Stanley Cup Final and falling short.
The next two seasons brought the payoff. The Panthers won back-to-back Stanley Cups, and Maurice was the coach guiding them through that stretch that locked the franchise into NHL history.
Last season was a different story. Injuries piled up throughout the 2025-26 campaign, and Florida couldn’t fight its way into a playoff spot. But the Panthers head into 2026-27 healthy, and after a busy offseason, the expectation is once again that they’ll be in the mix as contenders.
Maurice’s own place in the record book is still moving upward, too. He has coached 2,012 regular-season games, leaving him 129 behind Scotty Bowman for the NHL’s all-time mark. If he stays behind the bench long enough, he could become the league’s games-coached leader.
His coaching path has taken him through Carolina, Toronto and Winnipeg before Florida, and TheHockeyNews.com’s Adam Proteau made clear how much Maurice’s work has already meant.
"Maurice has earned the flowers he's received since Florida's back-to-back championships," said THN.com writer Adam Proteau. "He's been smart enough to have the trust of team ownership everywhere he's worked, and he's made the most of just about every opportunity he's received at the NHL level.
"If he never coached again, Maurice would be a no-brainer Hall of Famer. But he still has the competitive fire burning in him, and he now can add at least one more Cup to his phenomenal resume. The Panthers have the talent to be a playoff team in the Atlantic next season, and Maurice can add to his already-impressive legacy."
For Florida, the message is simple: if the Panthers are going to rebound, Maurice will be right at the center of it.
In Other News...
Panthers Prospects Are Suddenly In The Spotlight This Weekend
The World Junior Summer Showcase in Windsor, Ontario, wraps up this weekend with Finland meeting Sweden and the United States taking on Canada, a pair of games that will keep plenty of NHL front offices tuned in. For the Panthers, the event has put a couple of prospect names in the spotlight at just the right time, as teams use one last look in a meaningful setting before the calendar turns toward training camp and a busier stretch of roster decisions around the league.
Vilho Vanhatalo is slated to suit up for Finland against Sweden after collecting one goal and one assist in four games, while Shea Busch could get another crack at Canada after appearing in Thursdays 5-3 win over Finland. Those performances matter because this is the sort of week when a young player can shift from simply being part of the pipeline to being someone the organization starts tracking a little more closely, even as the bigger international story around the tournament continues to grow. [Read more 🡒]
Panthers Just Closed The Book On A Trusted Cup Run Piece
Tomas Noseks time in South Florida covered two seasons, but it came with a meaningful imprint on a Panthers group that finished the job in the Stanley Cup Final. Across an 11-season NHL career and 514 regular-season games with multiple teams, he settled into the kind of reliable depth role contenders lean on, the sort of player who can disappear in the best possible way until the biggest moments arrive.
Now his next step takes him away from the NHL picture, with his offseason move pointing him back to familiar territory overseas for the upcoming season. For the Panthers, its another reminder of how much turnover follows a championship run, even for players whose names may not always dominate the headlines but whose presence matters when the stakes are highest. [Read more 🡒]
Sabres May Have An Edge If The Atlantic Gets Drained Again
With the Atlantic Division again looking like a grind, the conversation around how teams handle a compressed schedule is starting to feel familiar. One of the bigger questions is whether roster shape mattered as much as raw talent last season, especially for clubs that leaned heavily on veteran stars and sent a large chunk of their top players into Olympic play.
Buffalo and Montreal are held up as examples of younger, more evenly spread-out lineups that may have been better positioned to absorb the wear and tear, while Florida and the other Atlantic teams are part of the broader comparison because of how many players they sent. The underlying issue is less about one tournament than about what happens when a long season gets squeezed, and whether teams built around older core pieces can keep pace if the schedule gets tight again. [Read more 🡒]