New Rangers coach Peter Laviolette has compiled a career mark of 752-503-25-150 (wins-losses-ties-OT losses) in five previous stops as an NHL head coach.
“I talk about guys wanting to go through a wall for him,” Ward said. “That’s the type of stuff he did. … Before it was cool to be a player’s coach, he was a player’s coach.”
Laviolette, who has compiled a career mark of 752-503-25-150 in five previous stops as an NHL head coach, walks into a star-studded dressing room in which his predecessor, Gerard Gallant, was buried under the weight of expectations.
In addition to his X’s and O’s acumen, Laviolette’s calling card throughout two decades behind NHL benches has been his ability to bring a team together. In his first job with the Islanders, that meant taking the coaching staff to the team Halloween party. In Carolina, it meant bringing the entire team, coaching staff and front office together to watch “Monday Night Football.”
That is not to imply a lax approach. Ward recalled being told in no uncertain terms to lose 15 pounds upon Laviolette’s arrival, before doing so and putting together “the best season of my life.”“Coaches will be exposed as frauds if you’re not who you say you are,” Ward said. “Lavvy lives what he says. He holds himself to the same standard he holds his players to.”
For the Rangers, coming off the earth-shaking failure of a first-round loss, that could be just what is needed.
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