Paul Maurice resigns as head coach of Winnipeg Jets

Paul Maurice is no longer the head coach of the Winnipeg Jets, saying he believes the team needs a new voice to carry it forward.

The team made the announcement in a statement on Friday, saying Maurice has resigned from the hockey club, effective immediately.

Winnipeg Jets General Manager Kevin Cheveldayoff said Dave Lowry will assume head coaching duties on an interim basis for the remainder of the year.

Speaking with reporters on Friday, Maurice said he is leaving the team on good terms.

“They haven’t quit on me. They are a good bunch of men. My relationship is strong with all of them and I am cheering for them – I am,” he said. “But when you have a 26-year professional hockey coaching career, you know – they need a new voice.”

Maurice was named head coach for the Winnipeg Jets on January 12, 2014. He said it was a good day for him and the Winnipeg Jets.

“This is a good team. I’m a good coach,” Maurice said with a shrug. “But sometimes when you take over a team, and it is kind of like you are starting at the bottom of a mountain and you are pushing a rock up to the top – you can only get it to a certain place, and that is where I feel I am at.”

Cheveldayoff said he had previous meetings with Maurice about the move.

“This team needs a boost and this team needs to be pushed, and Paul in our conversations we talked about, (we) just don’t know that he is going to be the right guy to push them forward,” Cheveldayoff said.

Maurice said after coaching the Jets for seven years, he said he is better positioned than anyone to know the team needs a new voice.

“They need somebody to help them get to that next place. It doesn’t need to be a more experienced, necessarily more talented guy – it needs to be a different voice because it is the right time for it, and I know that.”

Maurice said the recent COVID-19 lockdowns and team quarantine bubbles also played a role in his decision to resign as head coach.

“That is the very first time in my career I can say I didn’t enjoy coming to the rink,” he said. “If you lose some of that passion, the love of the game, you can still be good but you can’t be as good as you should be or could be, and that is how I feel I am.”

The Winnipeg Jets are set to take on the Washington Capitals at 7 p.m. at the Canada Life Centre.

“I don’t have a game to coach tonight and I don’t have to get a job tomorrow – and in 26 years that is probably the first time I can say that,” he said.

While Maurice said he isn’t sure what will be next for him, he said he will keep cheering the team on.