Can Peter Laviolette deliver a Stanley Cup to the New York Rangers?
With Peter Laviolette becoming the new bench boss in the Big Apple. Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk break down how Laviolette’s NHL resume and championship experience are a perfect fit and can help the Rangers achieve Lord Stanley.
Tyler Yaremchuk: He won a Stanley Cup with the Hurricanes back in 06’ and taken two other teams to Stanley Cup Finals as well. Is this the right fit for the New York Rangers, as they are in their championship contender window?
Frank Seravalli: If you rewind two months ago to the DFO Rundown podcast, I mentioned that he would be the perfect fit for where this team is at. They got to the Conference Final two seasons ago ahead of schedule; then they took a disappointing step back with a loss in the first round. They also have a lot of the positional checks as well; they’ve got the goalie in Shesterkin, the Norris Trophy winner in Fox on the back end, all these forwards up front-loaded with talent, and how can they find a way to better compliment this group and push it to succeed?
I think one of the big thugs missing was the coaching, the in-game adjustments and all that. I’ve seen Laviolette up close, I’ve seen him cook, I covered him for parts of four years while he was with the Flyers and saw him take that team that was a 7th seed team all the way to the Stanley Cup Final in 2010. In his second season with the Predators, he took them to the Cup final. You mentioned it, three different franchises to the cup final, having won once. And just an in-gut feel, whether it’s an in-game situation, calling a timeout, he gets it, and he senses it, I don’t expect him to change his style. He isn’t going to be any different in New York than he was in Washington or Nashville. Laviolette is one of the winningest American-born coaches of all time, and I’d expect in New York, where he played his only NHL games and has a small connection to this organization. that this is going to be a great fit.
You can watch the full episode here…