Peter Laviolette got his coaching start back in 1997-98 with the ECHL’s Wheeling Nailers. Now, his son, Peter Laviolette III, is following in his dad’s footsteps.
Earlier this month, Laviolette III was hired by the Nailers as an assistant coach. The 28-year-old native of Wheeling, West Virginia, joined head coach Nate DiCasmirro’s staff, which will be brand new after the Nailers saw their head coach from last season, Ryan Papaioannou, named bench boss of the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks.
“I’m really excited to have this opportunity and start where my dad started and come back to Wheeling,” Laviolette III told NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti. “I was born here. It just seems like a perfect spot.”
After departing Plymouth State University in 2022, Laviolette III spent his entire pro career in the ECHL, his first three seasons coming as a player on the Nailers. Overall, he now hangs up his skates after playing 139 games in the league for the Nailers, Orlando Solar Bears, and Savannah Ghost Pirates, recording 31 points (12g, 19a) and 367 PIMs.
Beyond his obvious connection to the team’s former bench boss, Washington Capitals fans may also remember that Laviolette III was one of the club’s college invitees to its 2022 Development Camp. Shortly before being cut by the Capitals during training camp later that fall, Laviolette III signed with the Nailers.
“He did all the work,” the elder Laviolette said. “He got his resume ready, and he interviewed probably with six or seven teams and was fortunate enough to get offered an opportunity in Wheeling, and now he couldn’t be happier. And I’m proud of him for that.”
While his son starts a new job out east, Laviolette will be doing the same out west with the Kings. Los Angeles brought the veteran head coach in after firing Jim Hiller midseason this past year and not retaining interim coach DJ Smith. The Kings will be his seventh NHL team after previous stints with the Capitals, New York Islanders, Carolina Hurricanes, Philadelphia Flyers, Nashville Predators, and New York Rangers.
Laviolette posted a 115-78-27 record with the Capitals from 2020 through 2023, but the team got worse every season under his leadership. In his final year as coach, he led the Caps to their worst full season in 16 years. At both of his most recent stints with the Rangers and Capitals, Laviolette drew criticism for consistently preferring veteran players over younger, developing players, often leaving the latter as healthy scratches.
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 Nailers in 1997. Overall, Laviolette has coached 1,594 career games in the NHL, notching an 846-562-161 record (and 25 ties). He currently sits ninth on the all-time list for games coached, seventh in wins, and eighth in losses.
