If there’s one thing that we know about Paul Maurice, it’s that the man knows how to give a soundbite.
Maurice is also willing to go to bat for his players, and in response to recent criticism of Blake Wheeler, he offered a strong defence of his captain’s play.
“I’ve been in awe of this guy since I got here. His work level, he’s unimpeachable and his character and how he runs that room and how he plays. He’s got 11 [expletive] points in 10 games,” said Maurice.
Wheeler has been criticized for many of the goals allowed while he’s been on the ice, resulting in a plus/minus of -9 that ranks close to bottom in the NHL through the first few weeks of play.
However, Maurice pushed back on “horses***” analytics that he felt did a poor job of capturing 5-on-5 play, while also arguing that one recent goal scored by Matthew Tkachuk while Wheeler was on the ice resulted from a “horses***” back check.
There has been some speculation that Wheeler in playing hurt right now, but he has denied that. In the meantime, of course, Maurice has got his back.
