One common theme from Peter Laviolette’s previous five NHL coaching stops has been a quick buy-in by players of his preachings and his system translating into immediate success.
The 2001-02 Islanders won nine of their first 11 games and improved by 44 points from the previous season.
The 2005-06 Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup in Laviolette’s first full season behind their bench, and the 2009-10 Flyers reached the Finals in his initial year in Philadelphia.
The Predators and the Capitals also both registered at least 100 points during his first full seasons with those organizations.
After several weeks of training camp and six preseason games, the Rangers will try to follow suit under Laviolette beginning with the season opener Thursday night in Buffalo.
“With a new coaching staff, everything is a little bit different. I think we’re just kind of feeling it out right now, but I think we’re going to be a team that is well-conditioned, works hard and plays well defensively,” veteran center Vincent Trochek said Tuesday. “It took some time during camp. but personally, I’ve gotten more and more comfortable throughout camp. And at this point we all hopefully understand what we’re out there to do.
“It takes some time any time you have a new system, but it’s the National Hockey League, so hopefully we’ll figure it out pretty quick.”
Laviolette’s 752 career coaching wins rank eighth in NHL history, 30 behind Islanders coaching legend Al Arbour.
“Every day in practice, I think the guys have worked incredibly hard. I’ve communicated that to them,” Laviolette said. “There’s thinking that goes into it in the beginning. Whereas after the guys understand everything, they think less, they play faster and quicker and are more confident.
“I started to see that in the last two [preseason] games. … There’s a lot of things that they started to understand just to do things quicker out there.”
Alexis Lafreniere practiced in full after sitting out the session Saturday with an upper-body injury and skating Monday with a red non-contact jersey.
He skated on the right side on a line with Artemi Panarin and Filip Chytil, and Laviolette called it “a step towards being there on opening night” against the Sabres.
Laviolette added that all 22 players on the roster are expected to be available for the team’s first game, saying “nothing came to my attention during practice, so I think we’re good.”
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