Former Washington Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette might land a new coaching gig this summer.
According to hockey insider Chris Johnston on The Nielson Show last week, Laviolette may be in the running for the open bench boss position with both the Edmonton Oilers and the Toronto Maple Leafs. The two Canadian powerhouse franchises fired their most recent head coaches, Kris Knoblauch and Craig Berube, after disappointing results this past year, with the Oilers losing in the first round of the playoffs and the Maple Leafs missing the postseason altogether.
“I think Laviolette has already moved up the depth chart (for the Oilers),” Johnston said. “The fact that Vegas has signaled, at the earliest, they’re going to allow Bruce Cassidy to talk to Edmonton, LA, or someone else is when their playoffs end. We don’t even know if he gets to that point – if Vegas will soften its stance and allow him to actually go forward with any interviews. I think if you’re managing this from the Oilers’ side, you just don’t control that. It’s apparent the NHL isn’t going to step in and do anything on your behalf, so naturally, you have to look at other options, and there aren’t many.
“There’s some risk attached with waiting well into the summer, starting with the fact that I think Peter Laviolette will be of interest in Toronto as well, maybe LA, not as sure there. In the meantime, he might get a job somewhere else.”
Laviolette did not coach in the NHL this past season, his first-ever full year without a job, outside of the 2004-05 lockout, since he became the head coach of the ECHL’s Wheeling Nailers during the 1997-98 campaign. He then spent two years in the AHL as head coach of the Providence Bruins, became an assistant for the Boston Bruins in 2000, and, since the 2001-02 season, has led the New York Islanders, Carolina Hurricanes, Philadelphia Flyers, Nashville Predators, Washington Capitals, and New York Rangers.
There are four current head-coaching vacancies in the NHL, with the Vancouver Canucks and Los Angeles Kings joining the Oilers and Maple Leafs. The hiring process for at least three of those four teams has been slowed by the way the Vegas Golden Knights are currently treating former head coach Bruce Cassidy.
Cassidy was fired by Vegas in late March, replaced by John Tortorella with just eight games remaining in the season. Since then, the Golden Knights have continued to refuse other teams permission to speak with Cassidy as he seeks his next job, as he is still under contract with the team for one more year. The situation is worsened by the fact that three of the teams looking for their next coach are all in the Pacific Division with Vegas.
Given the uncertainty surrounding Cassidy, teams looking for a veteran, no-nonsense coach are likely to turn to Laviolette. In his final season with the Rangers, the club missed the playoffs after making it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals in Laviolette’s first season. Before that, he had lasted just three years with the Capitals, missing the playoffs in his last season with them, too.
With both teams, Laviolette received criticism for consistently preferring veteran players over younger, developing players, making the latter often healthy scratches. He was also directly accused by New York media of having the Rangers “quit on him,” and was ultimately fired by general manager Chris Drury and replaced by former Pittsburgh Penguins bench boss Mike Sullivan this past year.
While his two most recent stints behind a bench ended both poorly and quickly, Laviolette did reach at least one Stanley Cup Final with the Predators, Flyers, and Hurricanes. His Carolina team won the 2006 Stanley Cup, the franchise’s lone championship.
Laviolette isn’t expected to be the only coach boosted by Cassidy’s Vegas-imposed wait this summer, as names like Jeff Halpern, Jay Woodcroft, Mike Leone, Craig MacTavish, Manny Malhotra, David Carle, Mike Van Ryn, Steve Sullivan, and Misha Donskov have all been mentioned as potential candidates for either the Oilers or Maple Leafs job.
