Despite Past Success, Peter Laviolette Might Not Be Right Fit For Current Rangers

The New York Rangers have been searching for their next Head Coach since May 6th, when they decided to mutually part ways with Gerard Gallant. A lot of names have been thrown out there, but none have gained any traction quite like Peter Laviolette. Laviolette was let go by the Washington Capitals at the conclusion of this season after the team missed the playoffs for the first time since 2014.

It is evident that the New York Rangers general manager, Chris Drury, along with the entire organization is in "win now" mode as they approach their decision on who the next bench boss is going to be. 

Signs are beginning to point toward Peter Laviolette being named as the new head coach for the New York Rangers.

Laviolette has certainly proven that he can win at the National Hockey League level.

He won a Stanley Cup behind the bench with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006 and he also appeared in the 2010 Stanley Cup Final with the Philadelphia Flyers, as well as the 2017 Stanley Cup Final with the Nashville Predators. With that being said, Laviolette has not coached a team past the first round of the playoffs since the 2017-18 season when the Predators were defeated by the Winnipeg Jets in Game 7 of the second round. 

With the amount of talent that the current New York Rangers roster has, there is a certain standard that this team has to live up to, and throughout his career, Laviolette has always been known as a guy that demands a lot of his players. A strong and fiery personality like his definitely makes him an attractive candidate. What I am wondering is if it's in the Rangers' best interest to look at a coach that can create a new culture, as opposed to a veteran like Laviolette who wasn't able to find success with an older group in Washington. 

The Rangers are in an interesting situation. There is a ton of younger talent, but they have also experienced playoff success recently. The voice they need is someone that can provide opportunities for these young players to grow, while at the same time being able to get the most out of the veteran players. 

Laviolette has made it clear that he doesn't just hand out opportunities to younger players. He wants them to come up and earn it, which I certainly agree with. To that point, this has been a major struggle over the past two seasons because younger players like Kaapo Kakko and Alexis Lafreniere haven't produced as much as expected with the opportunity they've been given. Whether it's Laviolette or not, whoever the next head coach is will have to find a way to get success out of these two players. 

The Washington Capitals decided to replace Laviolette with Spencer Carbery, who is a younger and fresh voice in the game. In their team statement announcing the hire, the Capitals stated "Spencer is one of the best young coaches in the game who's had success at every level at which he has coached. We feel his leadership, communication skills, ability to develop players, and familiarity with our organization will be a tremendous asset as he makes this next step in his coaching career." 

This is the direction that I feel the Rangers should be heading in. Bringing in a fresh new voice that can communicate with the younger players, but also bring out the best in the current stars on the team like Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, Adam Fox, Chris Kreider, and Igor Shesterkin. 

The Rangers have been in this "rebuild" since 2018, but the vibe of the team right now isn't about the actual building, instead, it appears to be results-based. New York is not a very patient city. This fan base is hungry for a championship, but building this championship team takes time and I feel that bringing someone in that is bought into creating a new culture could be more beneficial in the long run. 

Laviolette in my mind seems to be more of a band-aid solution for the Rangers as the coaching style in the NHL is starting to change and evolve. It's hard to argue against Laviolette's resume, but can his old-school message truly get across to the players that are currently on this New York Rangers roster? 

A lot has changed since the last time that the Rangers were looking for a new head coach, they cannot let this window go to waste.