I don't think Bruno was the guy but it still doesn't seem like Maurice is the guy either. Bruno's coaching was....not great during the playoffs. Verhaeghe and Bob carried this lifeless group into the 2nd round only to get swept. Powerplay never adapted and I know he can't play the games but there is an element of preparedness and adjustments that you expect to see from a coach. Lav's experience showed in round 1 and Cooper's showed in Round 2. Yes the Tampa series was much closer than a sweep but I saw enough in the Washington series to know about Brunette in that moment.
With that said, I was not huge on the Maurice hiring either. I thought it was interesting considering everything about him but I wasn't sure if it was the right move. I knew Bruno wasn't the guy to go with but I don't know how much research Zito actually put into hiring Maurice. I worry that he saw the chance to jump at a name and took it. He technically was the most high-profile coach after Q or Trotz and neither was available for different reasons. Whether or not that's true we'll likely never know. Zito said they had some great conversations during the interview process and obviously Maurice said the right things to sway Zito.
Zito isn't dumb though, he's done an admirable job with this team considering where they when Tallon was canned but all sports are a "what have you done for me lately" focused business, and lately Zito's moves have been a bit of a mixed bag. Unfortunately he's going to have to stick with Maurice for at least another season.
This year he iced him a pretty below average team that sometimes couldn't even have a full roster due to injuries and cap constraints brought on by Zito and cleaning Tallon's mess. Listen I get that Zito had to deal with Tallon's mess but so does every single GM that is hired by a team. The first thing they do is try and clean up the mess left for them, he's done a decent job in doing so, but as a result PoMo hasn't really had a fair shake all season as coach. You're going to have to give him one more year to see if he's actually a difference maker behind the bench.
Next year will be a big one. This year is all but stamped as a disappointment and a regression considering they've improved year over year since Zito took over. That will not happen this season and with only $11 Million in cap space to replace at least 5 rosters spots and no draft picks/minimal prospects to trade for established NHLers, this summer will be Zito's biggest test with the Florida Panthers.
