Peter Laviolette isn’t Gerard Gallant and that’s a good thing
The New York Rangers went out and did it. General Manager Chris Drury hired Peter Laviolette, making him the 37th coach in franchise history. According to The Athletic, Laviolette received a three-year contract worth slightly less than $5 million a year. After the departure of Gerard Gallant, who was fired following the Blueshirts first round defeat to the Devils, there was no question that Laviolette was the favorite to succeed him.
In their exit interviews, several Rangers players requested a sense of direction and motivation. They felt Gallant wasn’t giving it to them. Laviolette is the polar opposite of him.
He’s a “Barker” who isn’t afraid to lay into his players. Gallant takes a hands-off approach and lets the veterans do the talking.
True, it’s hard to get excited about a coach who hasn’t seen the second round in six seasons. It’s fair to be skeptical about the coach who was just let go by the Washington Capitals after failing to qualify for the playoffs. It’s understandable if you don’t like him because he’s a retread. But the facts are the facts whether you like it or not. There’s no such thing as a perfect coach. There was never going to be one for Drury to select. He scanned the market and picked the best one available.
Laviolette has an impressive track record. He has coached three organizations to the Stanley Cup Final, winning it with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2005-06. He has 22 years of coaching experience in the NHL. Laviolette is known for making strategic in-game adjustments, which should help him adapt to the Rangers’ roster.
It will be the fifth Metropolitan Division team, and the sixth team Laviolette has coached throughout his career. However, with great power comes great responsibility. Throughout his search, one of Drury’s questions to aspiring candidates was “How do you plan to handle the ruthless New York Media?”
According to Larry Brooks, that’s when Jay Leach, current Seattle Kraken assistant coach, bowed out of the race. He didn’t want to risk having an apple-sized black stain on his career if he succumbed to the pressure. That was never a question with Laviolette, who previously coached the New York Islanders and Philadelphia Flyers.
Interestingly, the Rangers are the only NHL team that Laviolette ever played for when he was a left-handed defenseman in 1988-89. He didn’t do much in his twelve-game stint. But it counts, right? Laviolette knows what it’s like to be in the Metro area. He knows what hard-nosed hockey is all about.
Yet, the five-week search boiled down to ex-Nashville Predators and New Jersey Devils coach John Hynes’s ability to get the most out of his young players and Laviolette’s experience. Drury and owner James Dolan wisely chose the latter. It’s arguably the most win-now club he’s ever inherited.
There’s no doubt Laviolette will have his hands full, as this is a tough group to coach. They have young players who desperately want more playing time and established all-stars itching to be the driving force to a coveted Stanley Cup. But if there’s anyone equipped to handle it, it’s him. His 752-503-25-150 record(Wins, losses, overtime losses, ties) makes him the eighth-winningest coach in NHL history, first amongst his fellow Americans.
Things are about to look drastically different both on and off the ice. Seeing a new face like Kris Knoblauch or Mark Messier running the show would’ve been refreshing. But sometimes, the right choice isn’t always the most desired one. It had to be done. The Rangers were the ultimate losers of this year’s playoffs(They lost to the Devils, who lost to the Hurricanes, who lost to the Panthers, who lost to the championed Golden Knights). Laviolette is here to make them the ultimate winner. Let’s dive into what steps he and the team need to take.
A year after being fired by the Boston Bruins, Coach Bruce Cassidy has won a Stanley Cup with the Vegas Golden Knights. On Tuesday, Cassidy started Vegas’ 2017-18 first line of Reilly Smith-William Karlsson-Jonathan Marchessault with Shea Theodore and Alec Martinez in the series-clinching Game 5. One misfit didn’t start their 9-3 victory over the Florida Panthers.
It was William Carrier. Cassidy apologized to him before the game. He said he could only start one left winger. Still, it showed how much Cassidy understands the history of the game. The poetic act showed how much Cassidy understands the history of the game.
It showed his affection for his players. Great coaches don’t only connect with their players on the ice. They do so off of it too. That’s something Peter Laviolette does exceptionally well.
During his 2005-06 championship season in Carolina, Laviolette wanted to capture memories of the team’s road trips and events. So, he gave rookie forward Chad Larose a camera to document these moments. The players were not interested. But Larose took some photos anyways. Then, Laviolette used the photos to create a video, which reminded the team of their togetherness and inspired them to play for each other during the playoffs.
After he was hired in the Summer of 2018, David Quinn traveled to Finland to meet with Kaapo Kakko. Yet players complained that they felt he got too personal at times. He was ousted in 2021 after three years on Broadway.
They said the opposite about Gallant. His business-only approach was initially refreshing in the locker room. But eventually, you’re going to need an emotional boost at some point. They didn’t see it in Gallant.
Laviolette has the reputation of being in the middle. Away from the rink, he’s a fun person to be around. But when it comes to hockey, there’s a no-nonsense way about him. It’s how he coached the 1998-99 Providence Bruins to a Calder Cup in the AHL while winning the Coach of the Year Award. It’s how he spearheaded young groups such as the 2010 Philadelphia Flyers and the 2017 Nashville Predators to unexpected Stanley Cup Final runs.
“We got off to a (bad) start,” Dan Carcillo of the 2010 Flyers told the Athletic.
“There are consequences when that sort of stuff happens. Then Lavy came in, and he was this talker, this slick guy. I liked that he thought we had the potential to play high energy and fast, and with guys like Pronger and Kimmo (Timonen), we had a really great veteran core. Even though Richie and Carts were young, they were proven winners. ”
“He’s a great motivator, a great talker. And, you know, I think he captivated that whole dressing room just to believe that we’re all family, that we’re all in this together.” Carcillo’s teammate Scott Hartnell added.
It works well for Alexis Lafreniere, one of the players to request Gallant be canned, according to the Athletic. It likely means his kid-linemates in Kakko and Filip Chytil shared the same sentiment. It works well for Artemi Panarin. The winger, who mysteriously went bald this week, has a coach that’ll push him to his $11.6 million self again.
“Coaches will be exposed as frauds if you’re not who you say you are,” Hurricanes goaltender from that championship year, Cam Ward, told the New York Post. “Lavvy lives what he says. He holds himself to the same standard he holds his players to.” That standard is excellence.
But how to consistently reach that standard is where a coach separates himself from the others. Laviolette has been doing this for 22 years, and his style is considered one of the best in the business.
Laviolette typically employs a 2-1-2 forecheck system with aggressive play at each blue line. Additionally, Laviolette prefers controlled zone entries on offense rather than relying on dump and chase. However, Laviolette tends to play a more conservative game with a lead, switching from a 2-1-2 forecheck to a 2-3 lock.
Both systems send two forecheckers into the zone. However, the 2-3 leaves one forward high in the zone. The 2-1-2 sends an additional forechecker in deep. Pete prefers the
2-1-2 because it allows defensemen to join the forecheck.
Defensively, Laviolette inserts a low 2-3 collapse.
It creates a logjam in the slot but opens up the points. Laviolette prefers his teams to implement an umbrella Power Play and hybrid penalty kill on special teams. The umbrella Power Play aims to quickly move the puck to draw the goalie and fire from the other side. Player 1 controls the puck and can pass to Players 2 or 3 for a shot or Players 4 or 5 for a one-timer. Players 2, 3, 4, and 5 should be ready to converge on the net. Accuracy is critical. The formation allows for a slim margin of error. The worst thing you could do is bounce a shot off a defender and out of the zone. The hybrid penalty kill is when the four players on the ice form a diamond around the slot. It keeps the opponents forwards to the perimeter and forces them to make plays.
Under Gallant, the Rangers revolved almost everything around their East-west fanciness. That cross-ice stuff doesn’t work in the playoffs, and Gallant knew it.
He tried to convey his team away from that style and embrace the north-south game. They succeeded at times. But there wasn’t enough consistency. The speed of the Devils ultimately was their undoing.
Meanwhile, Laviolette’s injury-riddled Capitals ranked third in Defensive Goals Saved. However, where both Gallant and Laviolette struggled this season was defending goals off the rush. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Rangers ranked 25th, and the Capitals ranked 27th. Yet considering the 27-point difference between the two division rivals in the standings, it says more about Gallant’s deficiencies than Laviolette’s.
Laviolette also integrates player tracking and analytics into his coaching decisions. It goes beyond ice time and his lines. He adjusts his strategies to fit his team. All four lines will not be programmed to carry the puck into the zone like Gallant had.
He’ll use zone entry data to tweak breakouts. He’ll change zone entry looks based on personnel. He’ll study the opponent too. That’s something Gallant didn’t do. He repeatedly stated in his pregame pressers, “I’m not worried about their game. I’m worried about ours”. Pete doesn’t make that mistake. He’s known to use past success against specific players to determine matchups.
Everything he does is with a purpose. But there’s no guarantee it’ll be perfect. The downside to Laviolette is that he sometimes employs a 1-4 neutral zone trap with the lead. It’s a system designed to play defense completely. With the pace of play increasing every season, it’s best to attack rather than sit back.
However, that’s understandable when you’re behind a Washington bench that didn’t have much offense outside of Alexander Ovechkin this season. These Rangers are notoriously loaded on offense. They should have no problem adjusting to his systems.
That also means no more coaching excuses. Laviolette’s contract is for three years. That’s approximately how long this championship window will be left open for this current core. After that, out go, Zibanejad, Kreider, and Panarin. Lafreniere, Kakko, Chytil, K’Andre Miller, and others will take the reigns. The players wanted a coach with structure. They have one. Laviolette will show up every day. Hopefully, the athletes will too.
Armed with a new head coach, Drury will focus on the June 28th NHL draft in Nashville, Tennessee. Then there’s free agency on July 1st. The Rangers have $11.7 million in summer cap space. A chunk of that will go to Lafreniere and Miller, expiring restricted free agents who must be locked up. The rest will go to a backup goaltender, three forwards, and a defenseman.
HARTFORD’S SUMMER UNDERWAY:
Things are calm in Wolf Pack’s world. They kept Kris Knoblauch, who will remain Hartford’s head coach.
They also retained forward Anton Blidh, who the Rangers signed to a two-year, two-way contract. Blidh will earn $775k at the NHL if recalled or $350k in the AHL.
Happy and exited for two more years!! Leeetsss goooooo @NYRangers @WolfPackAHL 🐺 pic.twitter.com/hSe0u7alqr
— Anton Blidh (@bliddan) June 8, 2023
During this season’s trade deadline, the Rangers acquired Blidh from Colorado in exchange for Gustav Rydahl. Blidh significantly contributed to the team, scoring seven goals and 11 points in 17 regular season games with the Pack. In the playoffs, Blidh also had two goals and seven points in 9 playoff games.
The playoff appearance was Hartford’s first since 2015. They swept the Springfield Thunderbirds(ST Louis Blues affiliate) 2-0 in the qualifying round. They stunned the top-seeded Providence Bruins(Boston Bruins affiliate) 3-1. Then came their doom. The Hershey Bears(Capitals affiliate) swept Hartford(3-0) in the Conference semifinals, ending their season.
Question to Blue Line Station readers: What do you think of the Peter Laviolette hire?