Winnipeg Jets head coach Paul Maurice talks to media during the first day of the Jets NHL training camp in Winnipeg on September 13, 2019. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods)
WINNIPEG — The Winnipeg Jets have solidified Paul Maurice as the hockey club’s head coach with a new multi-year contract extension.
The news was delivered Wednesday by Jets’ owner Mark Chipman during the team’s Hall of Fame luncheon.
Maurice, 53, joined the Jets on January 12, 2014 and has led the club to a 264-186-53 regular-season record in that time. The signing also now makes Maurice the second-longest active head coach in the NHL.
“Being able to stay and work — I think we were staying one way or another — but being able to stay and work for the Winnipeg Jets is perfect,” Maurice told the Jets’ website.
The Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario native guided Winnipeg to three playoff berths and an 11-16 postseason record in his first five full seasons at the helm, punctuated by a trip to the Western Conference Final in 2018.
Maurice entered the coaching profession as an assistant with the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League in 1988.
In his final year in the junior ranks, Maurice was head coach of a Detroit Junior Red Wings team that won the OHL title before losing in the final of the 1995 Memorial Cup.
— With files from The Canadian Press
