Winnipeg Jets should fire head coach Paul Maurice
The Winnipeg Jets couldn’t find any consistency in the second half of the regular season. After being sent home in the first round, it’s time to move on from head coach Paul Maurice.
Just a year ago, the Winnipeg Jets upset the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Nashville Predators in the second round to earn a trip to the Western Conference Final. The Jets lost in five games to the expansion Vegas Golden Knights franchise, but there was nothing to be ashamed of at the time. The Jets won their first two playoff series since returning to Manitoba in 2011.
With a core full of young superstars and seasoned veterans, they were supposed to build on last year’s run and reach the Stanley Cup Final. Instead, they’ll be hitting the golf course early after being upset by the St. Louis Blues in six games.
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Never mind that the Jets didn’t end up competing for a Stanley Cup this year. They couldn’t even get out of the first round. A star-studded Jets team should have dominated this series, but rookie goalie Jordan Binnington was too much. Not only that, but they had too many defensive lapses and breakdowns at the worst possible time throughout the series.
And after a very disappointing season in which they couldn’t find any consistency whatsoever, the Jets are going to have to make one or two drastic changes. One of those changes should be moving on from head coach Paul Maurice.
The 52-year-old, who is first all-time in coaching losses, was hired to replace Claude Noël for the final 35 games of the 2013-14 season. He’s held down the gig since, but in five and a half seasons as Winnipeg’s head coach, Maurice has a mere two playoff series wins.
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He guided Winnipeg to the postseason in 2015, but they were swept by the Anaheim Ducks in the first round. The Jets missed the playoffs in each of the next two years, despite bundles of talent on the roster. Curiously, they decided Maurice would be part of the solution and he signed a multi-year extension just before the 2017-18 season.
The Jets looked genius for keeping Maurice around last season because it got them to within three games of the Stanley Cup Final. But when the team was slumping in the second half this season, it was evident that a coaching change would have been for the best for the team. General manager Kevin Cheveldayoff refused to make it, and sure enough, the Jets never regained their composure and went home in disappointing fashion.
This isn’t anything against Maurice, but on a roster loaded with stars like Mark Scheifele, Patrik Laine, Blake Wheeler, Nikola Ehlers, Kyle Connor, Josh Morrissey, and Dustin Byfuglien, it’s safe to say the Jets win in spite of him.
Take a look at Maurice’s previous head coaching gigs. He spent a total of 15 seasons with the Hartford Whalers/Carolina Hurricanes franchise. Maurice guided them to the Stanley Cup Final in 2002, but Maurice only led the team to four playoff appearances in 14 full seasons.
Maurice only lasted two seasons as head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, missing the playoffs both times. This was despite an extremely talented roster that included Mats Sundin, Tomas Kaberle, Darcy Tucker, Jeff O’Neill and Bryan McCabe, among others.
Maurice has only guided Winnipeg to a pair of playoff series wins, and that shouldn’t be enough for any coach to keep his job that long. The Chicago Blackhawks fired legendary bench boss Joel Quenneville — who led them to three Stanley Cups. Going three straight years without making the playoffs plus a slow start in October cost him his job.
But yet, the Jets are giving Maurice every chance in the world to win with this team. And it’s not happening. They had the Blues on the ropes in Game 5 — leading 2-0 after two. St. Louis tied the game before scoring the game-winner in the waning seconds. Go back even further to Games 1 and 2, where the Blues scored their game-winning goals in the third as well.
That’s on Maurice. His structure clearly isn’t working for this Winnipeg team. The Jets lost nine games this seasons — five in regulation — when leading after two periods. Maurice and the Jets simply didn’t have a system or structure in place to close out games. That’s on the coach.
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The Jets have too much talent on this roster to not be competing for Stanley Cups every year. Cheveldayoff should make some tweaks, but he doesn’t have to do anything overly drastic on the roster. But after five and a half seasons of going almost nowhere, it’s best if both sides part ways — and for the Jets to hire a head coach with a better track record.