Paul Maurice, Rod Brind'Amour skipped player handshakes after East final. It was for a good reason
Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad (A) shakes hands with Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen (31) and Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin (74) at the end of Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference finals Wednesday, May 28, 2025, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Chris Seward)
Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice watches as the players celebrate at the conclusion of Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference finals Wednesday, May 28, 2025, in Raleigh, N.C. The Panthers team defeated the Carolina Hurricanes to advance to the Stanley Cup finals. (AP Photo/Chris Seward)
Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice watches as the players celebrate at the conclusion of Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference finals Wednesday, May 28, 2025, in Raleigh, N.C. The Panthers team defeated the Carolina Hurricanes to advance to the Stanley Cup finals. (AP Photo/Chris Seward)
The Florida Panthers shake hands with the Carolina Hurricanes following Florida's win in Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference finals in Raleigh, N.C., Wednesday, May 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker)
Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad (A) shakes hands with Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen (31) and Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin (74) at the end of Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference finals Wednesday, May 28, 2025, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Chris Seward)
Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice watches as the players celebrate at the conclusion of Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference finals Wednesday, May 28, 2025, in Raleigh, N.C. The Panthers team defeated the Carolina Hurricanes to advance to the Stanley Cup finals. (AP Photo/Chris Seward)
Florida coach Paul Maurice did not shake hands with the Carolina Hurricanes when the Eastern Conference final ended. And he asked Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour not to shake hands with the Panthers, either.
It wasn't out of disrespect.
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Quite the contrary, really.
The handshake line at the end of a playoff series is one of hockey's sacred traditions, no matter how physical the series was before one team eventually prevailed. And Maurice thinks the handshakes are part of what makes the game great to hockey fans, and he's all for it happening.
He has just said repeatedly throughout this postseason that he thinks the coaches shouldn't be part of it — reiterating that after the Panthers eliminated the Hurricanes on Wednesday night, even going as far as convincing Brind'Amour to sit it out himself. In that moment, Maurice said, nothing should take the attention off the players on the two teams that just played a series.
'I don't believe that the coaches should shake players' hands at the end,' Maurice said. '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.'
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So, just as he did after the Round 2 win over Toronto, Maurice and his staff shook hands with Brind'Amour and other members of the Carolina staff. That happened near the benches, while the players partook in the traditional handshake line down the center of the ice.
Maurice said several weeks ago that he isn't sure when the post-round handshake expanded to include coaches, and figures someone years ago did it just to either be seen or grab some television time. He said when he started coaching, people in the suits weren't in those handshake moments.
This season, he's been trying to amend the tradition. And he thanked Brind'Amour for taking a risk, as Maurice said, in agreeing with him.
'There's something for me visually, with the camera on just the men who played, blocked shots, fought for each other, it's end of one's season, it's excitement for the other,' Maurice said. 'The last thing that a player on the Carolina Hurricanes deserves is 50 more guys in suits, they have no idea who they are and that's not a negative. There's something really kind of beautiful about just the camera on those men who played shaking hands. And we should respect that.'
___
AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
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