Cleverness and skill are assets for Byfuglien but it's often the impact of the collisions he's involved in that get noticed.
Maurice, who was an assistant for Europe at the World Cup of Hockey 2016, said several players were grateful when the United States did not dress Byfuglien for their round-robin game.
"I got about seven stories, it's 'Thank God,'" Maurice said. "And then they tell you the story, Tomas Tatar, of how Dustin at some point blew them up. And they were so pleased he wasn't in the lineup."
Maurice said that on the large majority of Byfuglien's hits, he believes Byfuglien eases up.
"He's been doing that selectively in the second half of the season, very, very well," Maurice said. "Very clean hits. I think you need to know he pulls off on just about every single hit.
"He's had a couple where he hit somebody, it might have been [Jay] Bouwmeester in St. Louis a couple years ago, where the feedback was it's a clean hit but there's gotta be a penalty there, it was so violent. He's such a big, powerful guy. He can change the way you think. There are certain defensemen in the League that you play differently as a forward, you're going to give them a bit more room and maybe move the puck a bit quicker. That just makes you smart."
The big hits are just part of his job, Byfuglien said.
"It makes me smile, I guess," he said. "You know that's just part of the game. I just enjoy playing the game. It doesn't really do much for me."
Winning Game 2 did get him excited.
"We have a game plan, being physical is one of our strong suits," Byfuglien said. "You know, we just want to play fast, just be on the body. If the hits are there, take it, don't go chasing them. We played a good team game and we stuck through it all 60."