Longtime friendship between Maurice, DeBoer on display in Global Series

TAMPERE, Finland -- Paul Maurice and Pete DeBoer have been reminiscing for more than 25 minutes at a Tampere cafe when the conversation turns from the beginnings of their nearly 40-year friendship and influences in their coaching careers to the reason they are in this city in southern Finland.

Maurice’s Florida Panthers are facing DeBoer’s Dallas Stars in the 2024 NHL Global Series Finland presented by Fastenal. The Panthers won 6-4 on Friday, in the first of the two games at Nokia Arena. Florida then defeated Dallas 3-2 on Saturday before heading their separate ways for at least the rest of the regular season.

As close as Maurice and DeBoer are and as easily as the conversation and laughs flow between them, though, coaching against each other has never been part of the fun in their relationship.

“This is more special for me,” Maurice said of catching up with DeBoer. “It’s not the coaching against each other because I have absolutely no interest in my team beating his and less in his team beating mine. There’s no animosity.”

The feeling is mutual.

Maurice, 57, and DeBoer, 56, have been friends since they were junior teammates with Windsor of the Ontario Hockey League from 1985-88. And though they usually go months without seeing each other, they will text or talk on the phone to keep up on each other’s lives until their schedules bring their teams together. This week, it happened to be in Tampere.

“We all have friends like that where you don’t have to see each other for a very long time and it feels like you pick up right where you left off regardless of how much time goes between actual visits,” DeBoer said. “But we speak, we talk hockey. It’s been a great journey.”

Maurice, a defenseman who was selected by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 12th round (No. 252) of the 1985 NHL Draft, got into coaching in 1987-88 as an assistant with Windsor after an eye injury ended his playing career. DeBoer, a forward who was selected by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 12th round (No. 237) of the 1988 NHL Draft, played professionally for three seasons (1989-91) with Milwaukee of the International Hockey League before deciding to pursue his law degree.

He lived with Maurice while attending law school at the University of Windsor.

“At no point in time do you think there’s a career path in that,” Maurice said. “You’re going to law school. I’m thinking, ‘OK. I’m an assistant coach of a junior hockey team that’s making 150 bucks a week, which was pretty good. … And then things just took off.”

When Maurice landed his first head coaching job with Detroit of the OHL in 1993, he asked DeBoer for help as a part-time assistant. When Maurice left to become an assistant with the Hartford Whalers in 1995, DeBoer succeeded him as Detroit’s head coach.

Maurice was only 28 when the Whalers promoted him to head coach 12 games into the 1995-96 season. DeBoer was hired to his first NHL coaching job by the Panthers in 2008 when he was 40. Their friendship has continued throughout their lengthy NHL coaching careers.

In 27 seasons with the Whalers/Carolina Hurricanes, Maple Leafs, Winnipeg Jets and Panthers, Maurice is second in NHL history with 1,862 regular-season games coached, behind Scotty Bowman (2,141), and fourth in wins with 878. In 17 seasons with the Panthers, New Jersey Devils, San Jose Sharks, Vegas Golden Knights and Stars, DeBoer is 22nd in League history with 1,190 regular-season games coached and 21st with 619 wins.

“I was thinking about the different roles we’ve had,” DeBoer said. “We were teammates in Windsor. You were my captain. Then, I played for you when you coached, your first coaching job. Then, you were my landlord, which is a whole story. Then, you were my roommate. Then, you were my boss when you hired me as [an assistant]. Then, obviously, groomsmen, godfather to one of my kids.”

Maurice and DeBoer each married women they met in Windsor. Their wives and families became close, too.

They collected tons of memories along the way. After one season, DeBoer borrowed his uncle’s RV, and they drove to Florida with Windsor teammates Glen Featherstone, Ron Jones and Adam Graves. The RV broke down multiple times during the trip and Featherstone damaged its roof when he drove it under a low overhang at a motel.

“When I returned that thing to my uncle, I don’t know how many thousands of dollars of damage was done to it,” DeBoer said.

Maurice fondly recalls his “beautiful car” at the time -- a 1984 Plymouth Reliant K Car.

“Life was good,” Maurice said. “I had a car that ran. The house, we don’t need to talk about the rat trap. … But it was a good life, a freakishly unusual incubator for us.”

Their influences inside the Windsor incubator included owner Peter Karmanos, general manager Jim Rutherford and coach Tom Webster. Webster, who died in 2020 at 71, went on to be an NHL head coach with the New York Rangers and Los Angeles Kings. He also worked for three seasons as an assistant under Maurice with the Whalers/Hurricanes (1996-99).

Karmanos was the owner in Windsor and Detroit in the OHL and Rutherford the GM. In 1994, Karmanos bought the Whalers, and again made Rutherford his GM. A year later, they brought Maurice to Hartford.

The Whalers moved and became the Hurricanes prior to the 1997-98 season.

“Jim Rutherford is probably from a career point of view the single most important guy for both of us,” Maurice said.

“For both of us, unbelievable,” DeBoer said. “And just the good fortune of getting drafted to [Windsor] at that time. It’s funny how the crossroads in your life take you certain spots.”

Maurice coached for Rutherford and Karmanos for 13 seasons in the NHL over two stints with Hartford/Carolina. Karmanos attended Maurice’s Stanley Cup party in LaSalle, Ontario, this offseason.

Maurice finally won it when the Panthers defeated the Edmonton Oilers in seven games in the Stanley Cup Final last season after previously losing in the Final with the Hurricanes in 2002 and the Panthers in 2023. DeBoer, who is still chasing the Cup after losing with New Jersey in the 2012 Final and with San Jose in the 2016 Final, was ecstatic when Maurice won it last season.

DeBoer was invited to Maurice’s Cup party but decided not to go after getting to spend time with him at a wedding a few days before.

“I told you I hope you enjoyed it,” DeBoer said. “But what a road to get there.”

That road almost included a meeting with DeBoer in the Final, but the Stars lost in six games in the Western Conference Final each of the past two seasons – against the Golden Knights in 2023 and the Oilers last season. Maurice (19-17-3) and DeBoer (20-16-3) have coached against each other in 40 NHL regular-season games, according to NHL Stats, but never in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Maurice was half disappointed and half relieved when it didn’t happen in the Final last season.

“I wanted him to win so bad and I had absolutely no interest in he and I playing in the Stanley Cup Final because one of us was going to have to lose, and we both know how hard that is,” Maurice said. “And it wouldn’t have been that somebody got to win. When Pete wins, I’m going to be the happiest guy in the world for him.

“But (it was) the idea that one of us would have to lose.”

DeBoer watched the Final on television feeling conflicted for a different reason. He didn’t want to bother Maurice but couldn’t stop himself from texting suggestions to try to help him.

“I wanted you to win so badly,” DeBoer said, “and I’m watching the game and I’m sitting there going, ‘I see something. I’m sure he sees it, but if I don’t send it and he hasn’t seen it, I’m not going to be able to sleep at night if he doesn’t win. So, [forget] it, I’m going to send it.’”

Maurice joked that DeBoer’s texts weren’t needed when the Panthers won the first three games of the Final, but gained importance when they lost the next three.

“We’re grasping at straws,” Maurice said. “So, we’re mapping out every text, ‘He’s got to be onto to something.’ Oh man, what a roller coaster.”

Where the ride will take Maurice and DeBoer next is unknown, but, from the beginning, it’s been fun.

“A lot of connections,” DeBoer said. “A lot of water under the bridge. A lot of great memories.”

“We started our career together, almost accidently,” Maurice said. “We had no idea what we were doing, and we ended up in the National League.”