Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette reached an impressive personal milestone in the arena he once called home, Tuesday. With Washington’s 4-1 victory over the Nashville Predators, Laviolette became the tenth head coach in NHL history to reach the 700 win mark.
Laviolette is the second head coach to do so while being the Capitals bench boss. 2018 Stanley Cup champion, Barry Trotz, hit the same mark in March of 2017.
Congrats to Lavi on becoming the 10th head coach in NHL history to record 700 career wins!#ALLCAPS | @LeidosInc pic.twitter.com/wbtd4ypW8n
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) February 16, 2022
Capitals PR crunched the numbers to put Laviolette’s accomplishment in perspective:
– Laviolette currently ranks third among active head coaches in wins (700), only trailing Barry Trotz (894) and Lindy Ruff (772).
– Among the head coaches in the top-10 in wins, Laviolette’s .593 points percentage ranks fifth. And since he made his NHL coaching debut on Oct. 5, 2001, Laviolette ranks fourth in the NHL in games coached (Trotz: 1,526; Joel Quenneville: 1,399; John Tortorella: 1,336).
After the buzzer sounded, Alex Ovechkin picked up the milestone puck for Laviolette.
The 2021-22 season is Laviolette’s 20th as a head coach in the NHL. Prior to being hired by the Capitals, he spent two seasons at the helm of the New York Islanders, five seasons with the Carolina Hurricanes, five seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers, and six seasons with the Predators. He won a Stanley Cup with the Canes in 2006 and has visited the Finals once with both the Flyers and Preds.
Laviolette has amassed a 63-30-14 record with the Caps during parts of two seasons. The Capitals got first-rounded and lost in five games to the Boston Bruins in the playoffs during his first season as coach.
While Laviolette has won a lot of games, his career points percentage of .593 lags behind recent Capitals coaches Bruce Boudreau (.635) and Todd Reirden (.642) per NHL.com.
Congrats, Peter!
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