from Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet,

During a 12-minute press conference on Sunday, Paul Maurice devoted four minutes to answering a single question.

The query was a byproduct of Florida Panthers veteran Eric Staal’s simple but powerful observation at Stanley Cup Final media day on Friday that: “This group needed Paul and Paul needed this group.”

Staal, 38, first played for Maurice 20 years ago in Carolina, so has known his head coach for most of the forward’s adult life....

This is the coach the Panthers needed and, according to Staal, the coach who needed these players.

And what does Maurice think about that?

“I have enjoyed this year as much as any, and in some ways more than I ever thought you could enjoy as a coach,” he said, already 150 words into an answer that stretched to almost a thousand. “I came into this league at a time when you just growled (as a coach) all the time, right? It's 28 years ago. You've all been around, you've seen the culture shift and how people interact -- coaches and players. It's completely different. But you bring a little bit of that (growling) with you when you're trying to take a team that hasn't made the playoffs in a long time.

“You are grinding. Like, you're growling a little bit. This was a different animal because this is so much fun. If you watch our game last night, we made some mistakes. If you've watched us play, we'll make some mistakes. But they play hard, right? Matthew turns that one over and I'm not saying a word to him about it because he's worked his butt off, and produced and been great.”

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