Panthers Coach Had Classy Reason for Not Shaking Hands With Hurricanes Players

Andy Nesbitt | May 29, 2025

Florida's Paul Maurice explained why he told Carolina's Rod Brind'Amour they should be in the handshake line after the Panthers' win. / @TNT

The Florida Panthers punched their ticket back to the Stanley Cup Final for the third straight year with a 5-3 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday night. When the game was over the players from each side went through the handshake line as is customary at the end of a NHL playoff series.

Panthers head coach Paul Maurice, however, did not go through that line. Instead, he talked Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour into sitting it out with him.

The decision wasn't made out of anger or disrespect. Instead, Maurice explained afterward that he felt like the coaches don't deserve to be in that line because that should just be for the players who just finished their battle.

“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. There's something for me visually, with the camera on just the men who played, blocked shots, fought for each other, it's the end of one's season, it's excitement for the other. 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.”

Here are his full thoughts on it:

Paul Maurice explained that his discussion with Rod Brind'Amour after Game 5 was about his belief that coaches should not be in the handshake line with players after a series pic.twitter.com/VktKMYsELL

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) May 29, 2025

Here was the on-ice discussion he had with Brind'Amour about sitting it out:

Paul Maurice and Rod Brind'Amour share some words at the end of Game 5 pic.twitter.com/Z1oXyKYwDq

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 29, 2025

The Panthers are now just four wins away from winning back-to-back Stanley Cups. They'll play the winner of the Oilers-Stars series, which Edmonton leads, 3-1.

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