Rangers name Peter Laviolette as next head coach

Following a nearly six-week search, the Rangers on Tuesday announced that Peter Laviolette will be the team’s new head coach, the 37th in franchise history.

Laviolette, 58, had been the front-runner from the outset to replace Gerard Gallant, who parted ways with the organization May 6, but Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury took his time to investigate and interview several candidates before coming to a decision.

In the end, after Drury took the time to interview former Nashville coach John Hynes when he was let go by the Predators, Laviolette, the winningest American-born coach in NHL history and a Stanley Cup winner with Carolina in 2006, was the choice.

“We are thrilled that Peter will be the next head coach of the New York Rangers,” Drury said in the news release announcing the hire. “With Peter’s extensive experience as a head coach in the National Hockey League, as well as the success his teams have had at several levels throughout his career, we are excited about what the future holds with him leading our team.”

“I would like to welcome Peter to the New York Rangers,” Madison Square Garden CEO James Dolan said. “Peter’s impressive resumé, which includes winning a Stanley Cup and advancing to the Stanley Cup] Final with three different teams, has made him one of the most respected coaches in the league. As we move forward in our goal to consistently contend for the Stanley Cup, I am confident that Peter is the right head coach to lead our team.”

The Rangers will hold a news conference to introduce Laviolette to the media next Tuesday.

Besides winning the Cup with Carolina, Laviolette also reached the Final with the Philadelphia Flyers in 2010 and with Nashville in 2017. He coached the Washington Capitals the last three seasons but parted ways with them following this season, after the Capitals missed the playoffs for the first time since 2014.

The Franklin, Massachusetts, native has a career coaching record of 752-503-175 and 76-72 in the playoffs. He was the U.S. Olympic team coach in 2006, and coached the U.S. at the World Championships in 2004, 2005 and 2014.

He started his coaching career with the Islanders in 2001 and was with them for two seasons, reaching the playoffs both years before he was fired by GM Mike Milbury in 2003. The next season he took over as coach of the Hurricanes after the in-season firing of Paul Maurice.

But after winning the Cup in his second season in Carolina, the team missed the playoffs each of the next two springs, and Laviolette was fired 25 games into the 2008-09 season.

He was hired by the Flyers in the middle of the 2009-10 season, and made the playoffs thanks to a shootout win over the Rangers in the final game of the regular season.

The Flyers got all the way to the Final, where they lost to Chicago in six games.

Along the way, the Flyers became the third team in NHL history to overcome a 3-0 deficit and win a best-of-seven playoff series, beating Boston to reach the Eastern Conference final.

In 2014 he became the second coach in Nashville’s history, replacing Barry Trotz. He spent five-and-a-half seasons as Predators coach, including a trip to the 2017 Finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins, before being fired midway through the 2019-20 season. The Capitals hired him the next season.

Laviolette played 12 games in the NHL, as a defenseman for the Rangers in 1988-1989. He played in two Olympics for the U.S., in 1988 and 1994.

As far as the makeup of Laviolette’s coaching staff with the Rangers, that will be discussed in the next few days.

Goaltending director Benoit Allaire is expected to remain on staff, but assistant Gord Murphy, who worked the last two seasons under Gallant, will not.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.