Former Carolina Hurricanes' Paul Maurice to coach in KHL next season -NHL Update
Former Carolina Hurricanes head coach, Paul Maurice, has secured another coaching gig, but it will not be in the National Hockey League (NHL), as the veteran was signed on by the Magnitogorsk team of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) according to a report
on Friday, June 8, 2012.
Maurice was fired by the Carolina Hurricanes earlier in the 2011-2012 NHL regular season due to the declining performance of the team and another slow start. Carolina brought in Kirk Muller in his place, but it did not make a significant impact right away
as Hurricanes ended the hockey year as the 12th ranked team in the Eastern Conference.
The Magnitogorsk team made it official on their website and in a statement expressed their desire to having wanted to hire a coach from North America in order to improve their teams performance.
"The question about a head coach for this team of stars should be resolved in the near future — the management of the club hopes to sign a contract with a coach from North America," the club said in the online statement.
It was also learned that Ilya Vorobyov will be Maurice’s new assistant and is also a former KHL player himself. Maurice will also be joining former Carolina Hurricanes goalie coach, Tom Barrasso, and will be one of his assistants as well.
It was believed that Paul Maurice would be joining New Jersey Devils and his fried, Peter DeBoer, after he was fired but that did not turn out the way people expected.
"It’s never easy (being fired)," Maurice said in a recent interview with the CharlotteObserver. "But you keep grinding, you keep going. I did enjoy the TV work. That was a way of getting back into it. One of my best friends was making a good run. We talked
a lot of hockey together."
Maurice will be joining the KHL with vast coaching experience in the NHL. He coached Toronto Maple Leafs for two seasons and then joined Carolina Hurricanes but has not seen much success in the postseason.
It will definitely be exciting to see how Paul Maurice manages to guide the KHL team, which just might be his key back to the NHL.
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