The tenure of Peter Laviolette with the New York Rangers should be considered a sad tale.
He came to the organization in 2023 with a sense of hope and promise with expectations that he could help propel the Rangers back to Stanley Cup contention given how much talent they had.
In his first season with the team that’s exactly what he was able to do. Under Laviolette’s tutelage, the Rangers won the Presidents’ Trophy, recorded their best record in franchise history, and reached the Eastern Conference Final before losing to the Florida Panthers.
Maybe the Rangers didn’t win the Stanley Cup, but there was much to be happy about and build upon from the 2023-24 campaign.
Laviolette’s job seemed to be as safe as ever and nobody could’ve predicted what would transpire in the following season.
Between all the turmoil within the organization, regression in play, and constant trades, Laviolette had a lot on his plate.
While his coaching wasn’t perfect by any means, the Rangers’ struggles went far beyond Laviolette.
Since the start of training camp, something was off with the Blueshirts due to the uncertainty regarding their former captain Jacob Trouba. Things only got worse when Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury sent out a league-wide memo indicating his desire to make moves in order to shake up the team’s core.
The Rangers’ season spiraled out of control and they didn’t even end up reaching the playoffs. Even through all the roster changes and dysfunction, Laviolette kept his composure.
You never saw Laviolette lose his cool even if many coaches would under the same set of circumstances as he stayed professional through it all.
By the final days of his tenure, Laviolette felt like a sitting duck with everyone knowing he would soon be fired whether it was fair or unfair.
Over the final weeks of the season, his answers became more and more vague while his press conferences continued to get shorter.
The fact that he remained cool, calm, and collective though speaks volumes about his overall character.
Laviolette was used as a scapegoat for the rest of the team’s failures. He’s really the only person of significance to lose their job after missing the playoffs and everybody else remains with the organization without any consequence.
Not even two weeks after Laviolette was fired, the Rangers hired Mike Sullivan for what is reported to be the highest annual salary for a coach in NHL history.
Meanwhile, Laviolette is left sitting at home without a job wondering what could have been.
A true fall from grace.
