WINNIPEG — The Winnipeg Jets confirmed Paul Maurice as their new head coach for the next four years Wednesday and general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff also raised the possibility of a trade to bolster the team’s offence.
“He’s an impressive hockey coach but he’s an impressive person as well,” Cheveldayoff said of Maurice, who took over in mid-January from Claude Noel, sacked at the end of a five-game skid.
“He walked in and he made a tremendous impact from the moment he walked in and we believe that we’re just scratching the surface on the impact he can make on this franchise moving forward.”
Maurice, 47, guided the team to an 18-12-5 record over 35 games after Noel’s firing, a decision that Cheveldayoff said hurt him to the core.
“Claude Noel is a tremendous coach and an even better person,” he said.
Paul Maurice, in his first game as head coach of the Winnipeg Jets, talks to Bryan Little, left, and Andrew Ladd at the MTS Centre on Monday in Winnipeg. (Marianne Helm/Getty Images)
Noel had only part of a season as an NHL head coach on his resume when he was handed the reins of the Jets in 2011. Maurice has a career coaching record of 478-469-172 over 1,119 NHL games with the Jets, Toronto Maple Leafs and Carolina Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers franchise.
Winnipeg finished with a 37-35-10 record on the season and settled for an 11th-place finish in the Western Conference with 84 points. It was exactly the same record they managed in their first year in their new home in 2011-12, although the Jets were in the Eastern Conference until this season.
It was also the third straight season they have missed the playoffs since relocating to Winnipeg from Atlanta. The former Atlanta Thrashers made the playoffs only once, in 2007.
Cheveldayoff said it was disappointing not to make the playoffs but he didn’t suggest he’s deviating in any big way from his draft-and-develop philosophy and that includes sticking with his 26-year-old starting netminder.
“Ondrej Pavelec is the No. 1 goaltender going into next season,” the general manager insisted.
“He’s relatively a young goaltender when it comes to being a starting goaltender and when you . . . give those young players those opportunities to excel there’s going to be some bumps along the way.”
Ondrej Pavelec of the Winnipeg Jets blocks a shot on goal by Jussi Jokinen of the Pittsburgh Penguins. (Photo by Marianne Helm/Getty Images)
As for the long list of restricted and unrestricted free agents the team has this season, the only one Cheveldayoff mentioned as a player they want to keep for sure was forward Michael Frolik. He finished with 42 points and met or exceeded the expectations the Jets had when they acquired him from Chicago last year.
But he also didn’t rule out looking outside the Jets for the right unrestricted free agent or making a trade to strengthen their core group, particularly at forward.
“Some of it might have to come from a trade.”
He said they’re still looking at the young players throughout the organization and the role they can play. At the end of the season, for example, they brought in goalie Michael Hutchinson from the AHL’s St. John’s IceCaps and he won two of the three final games he played.
Winnpeg Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff talks to media in Winnipeg. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods)
And Cheveldayoff says the core group the Jets have signed to long-term contracts continues to perform.
“We like what we have in a lot of different areas here. . . Guys like Blake Wheeler had a tremendous year, Bryan Little had a tremendous year, Andrew Ladd had a tremendous year. . . we haven’t even touched on (Mark) Scheifele and (Jacob) Trouba.”
He said Scheifele and Trouba had a big impact and the two rookies are only going to get better.
One player he didn’t mention was Evander Kane. The forward finished with only 19 goals this season, a far cry from the 30 the forward scored in 2011-12, although this season he missed 19 games — 18 due to injuries and another as a healthy scratch, reportedly for missing a team meeting.