Jets' Paul Maurice says coaching young players has forced him to evolve

You can like it or not, but there's little denying we're entering a new era in the NHL. The days of coaches belittling young players, player hazing and things of that nature are quickly coming to an end. One person who says he's noticed a major difference, even over the last year is Winnipeg head coach Paul Maurice. He says he's had to evolve because of it, while maintaining there's simply no way to have everyone like you. Here's what he had to say while speaking to an NHL reporter:

If you go back over anyone's career, there are going to be relationships that didn't go well. When you're constantly pushing to a threshold to get the most out of players in an intense environment, you're going to have situations where players feel they should have been handled differently or didn't like it. You do the best you can. I think there is a real awareness over the last year, certainly on our staff. And if I'm going to give anyone credit, I'm going to give the assistant coaches credit for kind of pushing me to evolve, to be more understanding, maybe, of the younger players. More caring possibly. There will be a whole bunch of guys who'll say I haven't hit that threshold yet.

You guys won't get the player right, but Blake Wheeler grabs me about a year and a half ago and says 'Just be nice to the guy'. And I've got a list of 14 reasons why I shouldn't be because of his play, but that stuck with me. The game has changed and the players, especially (because) we have a young group, those interactions have to change. When I first started, you'd handle a man a whole lot different than you're handling them now. With that being said, I've got a list, I'm sure. There's a list every coach has of guys who didn't like the way you talked to them, who didn't like the decisions (you made). I've sat out captains, I've sat out Hall of Fame players in the playoffs. You're going to have players who don't love you. That just goes with the job.

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