Hockey season is officially underway now that training camp for the New York Rangers has kicked off. Heading into the 2023-24 campaign, the message is clear in the room, the time is now.
There was a ton of buzz around the Rangers practice facility today and the feeling around the team is very different. Peter Laviolette's personality and coaching style has already appeared to rub off on some of the players in the room.
Vincent Trocheck was very outspoken about the difference Laviolette is making. In talking about the coaching staff, Trocheck stated "The approach that they're taking is different. You can tell Lavy's paid a lot of attention to detail and is really focused on making sure that this group is as good as they can possibly be. I think that's huge for a team that we have and obviously, we think, and we believe in this room that we have the ability to be a team that can contend for a Stanley Cup."
It's easy to come into Day 1 of training camp and say that the goal is winning the Stanley Cup, but Laviolette is a man with a plan and understands what goes into building a foundation in order to bring this team to the pinnacle of hockey.
In talking about the team's goal and the agenda Laviolette said "Teams come into the year and they have a thought process of becoming Stanley Cup champions, that's probably everybody's goal. When you don't experience the success that you wanted the previous year, it just dials you in, makes you want more, and makes you focus more on what it is that you need to do. I think that we've got a good group of players that are focused and want to be successful, so for me as a coach, that's a really good thing."
The Rangers had a very disappointing ending to the 2022-23 season, Laviolette knows that, and the players are letting that fuel them. Trocheck touched on the lackluster finish to last season "It's a long offseason to sit with that. Kind of let it eat you up. We know how awful it was losing in the first round last year."
All of the players seem to be reacting positively to Laviolette early on.
When asked about speaking to the Ranger's new head coach, Alexis Lafreniere stated "He seems really good. A really good coach, a really good guy. Talked to him a couple of times, we're excited to have him and hopefully, we can have some success with him."
From the veterans all the way down to the rookies, it's evident that the vibe around the rink is the word "focus".
I had an interesting conversation with the newly acquired defenseman, Erik Gustafsson, who played 61 games for Laviolette last year in Washington. Since Gustafsson has some familiarity, I asked him what area of the Rangers game can Laviolette boost the most in a positive way, to which he told me "When they're attack and breaking out pucks and go the other way a little bit quicker. The team we have here is very fast forwards, skilled defenseman that can make plays. He wants to come with a lot of speed through the neutral zone, so I think that can benefit this team with a lot of skill and speed."
The neutral zone seems to be a recurring theme for Laviolette. Mika Zibanejad referenced it as well "I'm curious to see how the neutral zone stuff works. I know we had a lot of problems with that against their team. It would be nice to be on the other end of that and frustrate teams through the neutral zone."
It was only the first day, but the players appear to be very excited. The Laviolette era is off to a great start.