Change of pace: Peter Laviolette brings an up-tempo style to Rangers as third coach in four seasons
NEW YORK (AP) — Peter Laviolette is the New York Rangers' third coach in four seasons. His arrival in the offseason brought in another system, another philosophy and another coaching style. The championship expectations remain the same.
Laviolette, who led Carolina to the Stanley Cup championship in 2006, said he knows how he wants the Rangers to play as they pursue their first title since 1994.
“When you watch the the teams that find success, they’re pushing the pace, they’re pushing forechecks, they’re pushing pucks with speed, they’re quick to defend,” he said. “We can compete hard on pucks, we can have a great work ethic. That’s what I’m looking for."
It's a change that has been welcomed and embraced by the players after their stinging first-round exit that resulted in Laviolette replacing the fired Gerard Gallant.
"The attitude he brings, the energy, enthusiasm," captain Jacob Trouba said of the new coach, “There’s a little direction he brings. I think that is good for us. ... There’s some adjustments for sure. Just getting comfortable making the reads is going to take a little bit of time, but we know our roles and how we’re supposed to do it, just getting the hang of doing it more frequently and more consistently.”
The Rangers had high expectations a year ago coming off a 110-point regular season and run to the conference finals in the 2022 playoffs. They followed that up by finishing third in the Metropolitan Division, but were ousted by New Jersey in seven games in the first round — including shutouts in two of the last three games.
“Obviously that’s a tough one to swallow,” Trouba said. “I think everyone was stunned for a while in the summer maybe more than past years. ... You got to turn the page, it’s a new season.”
Forward Vincent Trocheck agreed, adding: “We believe that we have the ability to be a team that can contend for the Stanley Cup. ... We know how awful it was last year. We’re coming in (this season) to try to make a really long push.”
The Rangers averaged 3.33 goals per game last season — ninth in the NHL — and have the potential to be a high-scoring team again. Artemi Panarin (29 goals, 63 assists) and Mika Zibanejad (39 goals, 52 assists) both topped 90 points, and Chris Kreider (36 goals) joined Zibanejad in the 30-goal club.
However, the top two lines accounted for the bulk of the production, and when they struggled the team had a hard time scoring. With plenty of skilled puck handlers, the team tended to always look for the perfect pass when the lanes were clogged. Laviolette wants to the team to play an up-tempo pace to counter that.
He's also been mixing up the lines and defensive pairings during training camp and preseason games. The Kid Line of Kaapo Kakko, Alexis Lafreniere and Filip Chytil that provided energy during the playoff run in 2022 and at times last season will be broken up this year with each player getting slots on the top two lines. Longtime linemates Kreider and Zibanejad will likely be separated as well.
“You don’t always know the chemistry and how good something can be if you don’t try something new,” Zibanejad said. “You want to be able to play with everyone, you want to be ready.”
The Rangers' window to end their Stanley Cup drought could be closing soon as several key players — Panarin, Zibanejad, Kreider, Trouba and Trocheck — will all be at least 30 by midseason. Add veteran newcomers forward Blake Wheeler, defenseman Erik Gustafsson and backup goalie Jonathan Quick to that list as well.
“This team’s been looked at as a team that can take this next step in the future for a while now,” Trocheck said. “I think that future is now and we don’t have all this time to kind of waste. ... It’s put up or shut up at this point.”
The Rangers open the season at Buffalo on Thursday night.
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