Kings Hire Peter Laviolette as Head Coach

The Los Angeles Kings have hired Peter Laviolette to be their next coach, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Laviolette replaces interim coach D.J. Smith, who took over for Jim Hiller after he was fired in March.

Laviolette began his coaching career with the New York Islanders in 2001-02, and he brings 23 seasons of experience to the Kings' bench. He ranks seventh in NHL history with 846 wins. Twenty years ago, in 2006, Laviolette led the Carolina Hurricanes to the first Stanley Cup in franchise history.

Since his tenure with Carolina ended in 2008, Laviolette has come within two wins of a second Stanley Cup twice. In 2010, Laviolette took the Philadelphia Flyers to the Stanley Cup Final before losing to the Chicago Blackhawks in six games. He also coached the Nashville Predators to their first Stanley Cup Final appearance in 2017 before falling to the Pittsburgh Penguins -- again in six games.

After the Predators fired Laviolette in 2020, he spent three years with the Washington Capitals from 2020-23, and he coached the New York Rangers for two years from 2023-25.

In his two decades behind the bench, Laviolette has compiled an 846-562-25-161 record, and he has a career playoff record of 88-82. He'll now look to help a franchise that has suffered first-round playoff exits in five straight seasons.

Despite a long track record of success dating back more than two decades, there are questions about Laviolette's ability to sustain it, though he should provide a welcome change for the Kings.

Short shelf life

Every coach in every sport has a shelf life, but Laviolette's teams always seem to peak after two or three seasons before dropping off a cliff. That goes back to his time in Carolina, when Laviolette won the Stanley Cup in his second season. The Hurricanes didn't make the playoffs again, and Laviolette was fired less than three years after a championship.

Laviolette provided an instant boost for the Flyers, who won the Eastern Conference in their first season with him behind the bench. Philadelphia advanced to the second round of the playoffs in each of the next two seasons, and he was fired just three games into the 2013-14 campaign.

Laviolette's longest stretch of success came in Nashville, where he steadily led the team to improvement in each of the first two seasons before breaking through for a Western Conference title in 2016-17. The following season, the Predators won the Presidents' Trophy, but that's where the success ended. Nashville was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in 2019, and Laviolette was fired midway through the next season.

The most troubling parts of Laviolette's resume are also the most recent. His tenure with the Capitals was rather unsuccessful, with a pair of brief first-round playoff appearances in 2021 and 2022, followed by a sub-.500 record in 2022-23.

In his debut season with the Rangers, Laviolette coached them to the Eastern Conference Final, and the team entered the 2024-25 season with Stanley Cup expectations. Instead, New York went 39-36-7 and missed the playoffs before firing Laviolette.

For whatever reason, Laviolette tends to deliver instant success before wearing out his welcome. Whether his message wears on the players or he leans too heavily on veterans instead of developing young players, he rarely has success beyond his third season with a team.

More broadly, there are questions about whether Laviolette's coaching style still works in the modern NHL. Since the Predators won the Presidents' Trophy in 2017-18, his success has been limited. In his seven seasons since then, Laviolette's teams have missed the playoffs more times (twice) than they've advanced past the first round (once).

Offensive spark for the Kings

For years, the Kings have been one of the best defensive teams in the NHL. Since the start of the 2008-09 season, Los Angeles has finished in the top 10 in goals against 12 times. It only finished outside the top half of the NHL in that category twice -- in 2018-19 and 2020-21.

That defense powered the Kings to Stanley Cup victories in 2012 and 2014. Since then, however, an emphasis on defense has capped offensive production. Los Angeles has regularly finished below average -- and often near the NHL's basement -- when it comes to scoring. It's an issue that has spanned multiple coaching staffs, but it should change under Laviolette's leadership.

Laviolette's teams have typically been well above average at putting the puck in the net. He has overseen a top 10 offense 11 different times throughout the course of his career, and that should be music to the ears of Kings fans for a couple of reasons.

First of all, the Kings' unwavering emphasis on defense has gotten them seven consecutive first-round playoff exits. Secondly, Los Angeles has the personnel to open up its game a bit more. This past season, the Kings acquired dynamic winger Artemi Panarin from the New York Rangers, and Kevin Fiala has been a fantastic playmaker for a while now.

The key for Laviolette will be unlocking the offensive potential of Quinton Byfield , whose combination of speed and size is rare. He just hasn't been able to translate that ability into high-end production yet. The same goes for skilled defenseman Brandt Clarke , who is still just hitting his stride at 23 years old.

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_Originally reported by [CBS Sports](https://www.cbssports.com/nhl/news/la-kings-hire-peter-laviolette-coach/)._