Paul Maurice got into a small confrontation with Rod Brind’Amour after the Eastern Conference Finals between the Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes ended on Wednesday night. The Panthers head coach revealed what his message to Brind’Amour was.
Maurice’s Panthers won the series in five games to advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the second straight year. Maurice, 58, is a former player and longtime head coach who has been coaching in the NHL since the mid-’90s. Maurice feels that the traditional post-playoff series handshake needs to be modified.
Maurice told Brind’Amour after the series that the handshake line should be for the players, and not the coaches. Here is a video of how that conversation went:
Paul Maurice and Rod Brind'Amour share some words at the end of Game 5 pic.twitter.com/Z1oXyKYwDq
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 29, 2025
Maurice was happy to speak about his feelings on the matter when he was asked about it after the series ended.
“I don’t believe that the coaches should shake players’ hands at the end,” Maurice stated. “There’s this long list of people in suits and track suits. We had like 400 people on the ice. They’re all really important to our group. But not one of them was in the game. There’s something for me visually with the camera on of just the men who played.”
Maurice added that coaches were not involved in the handshake line when he first entered the NHL and that it changed at some time. He speculated that it changed when maybe some coach wanted to get on camera.
Maurice is on a crusade to change things back to the way he feels it should be. He also had the conversation with Craig Berube after the Panthers defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in the second round and got him on board.
Maurice is working his way towards changing the tradition … one coach at a time.
Paul Maurice says his exchange with Rod Brind'Amour was about letting the players have the handshake line to themselves.
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) May 29, 2025
Maurice believes the handshake line should be for the players only and asked Brind'Amour and his coaches to skip it. pic.twitter.com/io9kmQE1eq
