Future Islanders Coach?

The news broke today that the vacant head coach position with the Washington Capitals has been filled. Peter Laviolette, most recently with the Nashville Predators, was hired by the NHL club today as their head coach, becoming the nineteenth head coach in Washington Capitals history, and he'll be tasked with getting the Washington Capitals back to the promised land of Stanley Cup glory. Just two years removed from Stanley Cup parades, the Capitals are looking for a new direction, and they believe they've found it with Peter Laviolette's coaching.

Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan stated that, following the loss to the Islanders and the dismissal of Todd Rierden, he was seeking a coach who could properly motivate the Capitals' roster. According to MacLellan, he didn't like what he saw from his team in the bubble in Toronto, and he clearly wants that to change as this Capitals team sees its window to win starting to close.

"We have an experienced group. We need someone to come in and push some buttons on some good players," he told reporters. "We're going to need someone that can come in and establish that as a big part of our identity."

Laviolette is seen as someone who can command respect from his players while pushing them to be more. While there's no doubt that he has had success as he ranks 16th all-time in wins with a 637-425-123 record in his career, it also becomes a question of will we see what happened in Nashville happen in Washington where key players simply underperformed in Laviolette's system. Alexander Ovechkin is chasing that elusive Gretzky goal-scoring record, so it might be a clash of personalities if he's asked to backcheck a little more at the expense of 5-10 goals per year.

That's where his communication with the veteran leaders of this Capitals team will be needed, and he's proven that he can work effectively with good locker room leaders in the past. Rod Brind'Amour was a key voice when Laviolette coached the Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup. He had Chris Pronger patrolling the blue line of a younger Flyers team when he coached that squad to the Stanley Cup Final. And he's worked with outspoken personalities like PK Subban in Nashville when he coached them to the Stanley Cup Final. Ovechkin is certainly a personality unto himself who has a voice in the locker room, so Laviolette's ability to communicate will be key with this leadership group that includes John Carlson, TJ Oshie, and Nicklas Backstrom.

Laviolette's communication will bring with it an identity, and that identity will lead to a new culture in Washington assuming that everything works out for the length of his three-year deal. We know the Capitals can score. We've seen them win games and a Stanley Cup before a few early exits in the playoffs in past years, so what exactly is Laviolette's plan in getting the Capitals on the same page from Player A to Player Z?

"I feel like there's always an opportunity going in as a coach to not only build an identity on the ice on how you want your team to play and an expectation of what it's going to look like on a nightly basis," he stated, "but also how you're going to build your team internally and how hard they fight for each other, how much they care about each other. For me, those are things that you can go in and you can work on a daily basis both in the room and on the ice."

There might be some questions for Laviolette when it comes to goaltending as he won't have a Pekka Rinne-type netminder to lean on if Braden Holtby isn't re-signed by the club, leaving Ilya Samsonov as the new starting netminder. While Samsonov isn't a bad option to have by any means, there might be less wiggle room as compared to having Rinne at the top of his game as Laviolette had for a number of seasons in Nashville.

If Laviolette can tighten up the defence as he did with the Nashville Predators in giving up fewer goals per season, the goals that the Capitals can and do score will making winning games easier. No longer will they need to be in track meets or next-goal-wins types of games if they can begin to reduce the amount of times they're fishing the puck out from behind their own goalies. Laviolette's record in Nashville proves he can get good offensive players to defend, so it will come down to buy-in from the players if they want to make life easier on themselves.

"The communication between the players and certainly the leadership group I think is extremely important because whatever it is that a coach is trying to project it has to be received by the players," he said. "You have a veteran group that's been through it before. I'm sure they want to get back. That's just the nature of the beast of competitive athletes and they want to get back. So the fact that they're a veteran group, I'm hoping that we're going to work together and that I can push in any way that I can so we can back to a level that can get us deep into the playoffs."

If the Capitals want to replicate the success they had in 2018 under Barry Trotz, they needed a guy like Peter Laviolette to come in and get a handle on things just as Trotz did. While it took Trotz a little while to get Ovechkin to buy into his system, things seemed to click like clockwork once the Great Eight saw the light. Laviolette's approach is the same as Trotz's approach in that he demands accountability from every player on the roster while rewarding those who earn his trust. If Ovechkin and company can find that magic once again under Laviolette, it will mean good times in Washington for another winter.

Of course, if it doesn't work out and Laviolette is fired, he might be the next coach on Long Island since it seems he's following the same path as Barry Trotz when it comes to coaching in the NHL. Wouldn't that be something if Lou Lamoriello put Laviolette and Trotz together on the same bench?

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!