Here’s something that isn’t going to stay in the room. Peter Laviolette is boxing.
The 56-year-old Capitals head coach worked up a mean sweat after being a guest at Tom Wilson’s gym, BASH, on Wednesday night. The trendy Arlington boxing studio posted a photo of Lavy posing with the COO of the company, Nick Robbins, on social media.
“Good news Caps fans, it looks like Coach Laviolette is already in mid-season form,” BASH wrote. “@tomwilson, we told him we’d keep an eye on ya.”
It’s unclear from the photo what the workout consisted of or if Laviolette was shown video of players not hustling to backcheck for extra motivation.
Laviolette is entering his second season as head coach after guiding the Capitals to the seventh-best record in the NHL last season. In the playoffs, however, the Capitals, who were nursing a lot of injuries to star players, collapsed against the Boston Bruins in the first round, losing in five games. It was the third-straight season the team had lost in the opening round since winning the Stanley Cup in 2018.
Laviolette is back in DC to lead Capitals training camp beginning on September 18.
Lavy is just the latest member of the Capitals organization to train at Wilson’s gym, which the first-line forward first invested in during the 2018-19 season
“Obviously there’s times that I get into fights on the ice, but that’s not what Bash is about at all,” Wilson said to the Washington Business Journal’s Rebecca Cooper at the time. “It truly is a good workout. It’s non-contact. It’s fun, intense, social, and you really leave with a good feeling.”
Former Capitals defenseman Brenden Dillon stopped by in May after the Capitals’ playoff run ended.
As for the Capitals, if they are going to have more juice and jam this season, their bench boss needs to have it too. The boxing should help. Now if things turn ugly on Opening Night, like many analysts are predicting, Lavy will be even more ready.
Headline photo: @bash
