Oh, right up my joy-filled alley!

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Paul Maurice, a master of the spoken word, chose an uncommon word for a coach recently about his job: Joy.
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Have you heard a coach use that word around a pro sports team? Ever? But doesn’t it reflect what the Florida Panthers have built when held up against words slung by the other team leaders in town?

The last time was Jimmy Butler saying he was leaving Boot Camp Riley because he needed to get his "joy" back. Erik Spoelstra invoked steel mills with his "forge, forge, forge" obsessive mantra.

“This has been a wholly and completely unexpected level of joy I find in my job because of the men around here,’’ the Panthers coach said. “I was asked today for a memory — it’s this group. It’s the fun that we’ve had.

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Maurice was later asked about this joy, and he repeated how it’s not just from the players or a the byproduct of winning. It’s from the full work atmosphere inside the Panthers — the medical staff, the trainers, the communications people …

Culture. Atmosphere. Work environment. Choose your label. This is how it looks and feels when you have the right people assembled at the right time in any team or business.

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The Heat’s top player the previous several years, Jimmy Butler, got into a nasty contract dispute that dominated this season and forced a trade. You can win with issues, as the Heat did with Butler in previous years. But to have aligned feelings inside a team like the Panthers? To have joy?

Isn't that what sports should be? From owner to coach to player to water boy, to fan, shouldn't it be fun? Should it be like a boot camp or a steel mill?

It’s not hockey’s humble way to sell “Panthers Culture” T-shirts. But the finished culture is sports at its best. ...

It is.

This is how it looks and feels when everything aligns inside an organization from a star like Barkov to a dentist like Robins. That’s created a surprise emotion for a 58-year-old coach in his 27th NHL season:

Joy.