Peter Laviolette, who formerly ran the bench for the Washington Capitals, could secure a fresh coaching post this summer.
During a spot last week on Nielson's program, the analyst Chris Johnston named Laviolette as a possible fit for the vacant bench-boss roles up in Edmonton and Toronto. Both of those Canadian powerhouses parted with their previous coach, in Knoblauch and Berube respectively, after dispiriting campaigns a year ago, with the Oilers ousted in the playoffs' first round and the Leafs shut out of the tournament entirely.
According to Johnston, the coach has already risen on the pecking order of Edmonton's candidates. He pointed out that Vegas has made it known it won't permit Cassidy to hold interviews elsewhere, be it in Edmonton, in Los Angeles, or with another club, until, at the soonest, the Knights' own postseason wraps. It remains uncertain, Johnston cautioned, whether the team will ever ease that posture and release Cassidy for such talks. Viewed from Edmonton's side, he argued, none of it falls under the club's command, and with the league looking disinclined to intervene, the Oilers have little choice but to weigh alternatives, sparse as those are.
He added that dragging the hunt deep into the warmer months carries danger, beginning with his suspicion that Toronto, and perhaps Los Angeles as well, would likewise chase Laviolette, the second of those less certain. During that window, Johnston warned, the coach might commit elsewhere.
The campaign just finished marked the opening full year of Laviolette's tenure with no coaching role at all, setting aside the lost 2004-05 season, dating to when he took over the ECHL's Wheeling Nailers in 1997-98. From there he put in two seasons steering Providence at the AHL level, came aboard in Boston as an assistant during 2000, and, beginning with 2001-02, has captained benches across numerous stops: the Islanders, the Hurricanes, the Flyers, the Predators, the Capitals, and the Rangers.
As things stand, four head jobs sit open across the loop, with Vancouver and L.A. lining up next to the pair of Canadian clubs. A minimum of three of these pursuits have stalled owing to the way Vegas is treating Cassidy, the man it once employed behind the bench.
Vegas parted with Cassidy during the closing stretch of March, turning its bench over to John Tortorella when only eight contests remained. From that point, the club has gone on barring other organizations from talking with him while he searches for his next role, given that his deal there extends a further season. Adding to the tangle, three clubs on the coaching hunt belong to the same Pacific Division that houses Vegas.
With all the haze around Cassidy, franchises after a hardened, no-nonsense leader figure to gravitate to Laviolette. During his final go-round in New York, the squad missed out on the postseason after he'd carried it as far as the East's conference final in his opening year on that bench. Before then, he managed merely three seasons in Washington, where he likewise fell short of a postseason berth in his closing year.
At each location, Laviolette took criticism for habitually leaning on veterans ahead of younger, still-developing skaters, frequently relegating the latter to healthy-scratch duty. Reporters in New York went so far as to allege flatly, in the pages of the New York Post, that the Rangers had thrown in the towel on their coach. Chris Drury, the GM, ultimately let him go, turning to Mike Sullivan, formerly Pittsburgh's coach, as the successor a year ago.
Even though both of his most recent benches ended quickly and on a sour note, Laviolette did steer Nashville, Philadelphia, and Carolina each to no fewer than one Cup Final. The Hurricanes side he led captured the championship in 2006, that organization's sole crown.
Laviolette figures not to stand alone as a coach lifted by the Vegas-imposed delay on Cassidy this offseason. A list of candidates has emerged for one of the two jobs, including Misha Donskov, Mike Van Ryn, David Carle, Steve Sullivan, Manny Malhotra, Craig MacTavish, Mike Leone, Jay Woodcroft, and Jeff Halpern.