Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman offered some tasty gossip in his 31 Thoughts column on Sunday night. According to the insider, the Capitals are looking very hard at Peter Laviolette to be their next head coach.

The news comes along with a couple other Caps coaching- and GM-related tidbits. From Friedman:

15. Washington has permission to talk to Peter Laviolette, and he is very much a contender.

16. Former Capitals coach Todd Reirden could be on the radar in both Florida and Pittsburgh as an assistant. The Penguins’ connection is obvious (he used to work there), while the Panthers may replace Mike Kitchen, who did not join them in the bubble. (This, of course, is pending any head coaching jobs he pursues.)

17. I’m not sure about his status in Arizona/Florida scenarios, but Washington assistant GM Ross Mahoney had three interviews with New Jersey before the Devils stayed with Tom Fitzgerald.

Laviolette has coached 1210 games for New York, Carolina, Philadelphia, and Nashville. He won the Stanley Cup with the Hurricanes in 2006 and reached the finals on two other occasions. The Nashville Predators fired him in January.

Last week, RMNB’s Peter Hassett and Ian Oland scored Laviolette as a B-tier candidate to replace Todd Reirden, citing Laviollete’s reputation for lowering offense.

Laviolette, incidentally (not incidentally) consistently and severely harms the offence of his teams. With a proper coach the Preds’d be cup faves or close. pic.twitter.com/ohgPwT0CuA

— Micah Blake McCurdy (@IneffectiveMath) November 29, 2019

Screenshot courtesy of Fox Sports