By Arthur Staple (The Athletic)
Seeing the Rangers at the top of the NHL standings through 20 games might raise an eyebrow. Knowing that the Rangers got there without their No. 1 defenseman and No. 2 center for the last month would bring that other eyebrow up. Hearing that Igor Shesterkin missed two weeks in there too would elicit an audible, “Wow,” from just about any observer.
Except for a handful of former NHLers. You ask just about anyone who played for or worked with Peter Laviolette in one of his previous five NHL coaching stops and you get very little reaction to seeing another team in its first season under Laviolette off to a strong start.
“It’s simply amazing,” said David Poile, who hired Laviolette to coach the Predators in 2014 and saw Nashville get off to a 12-4-2 start that season. “Unique is a strong word in the world of coaches. But it’s unique if you do it again and again and again. And he’s doing it now.”
“He’s like a great chef,” said Justin Williams, who won the Stanley Cup with Laviolette in 2005-06, his first full season coaching the Hurricanes. “You have a really good recipe and through the years you tweak it a little — you learn about what to take out, what to put in. He’s got the touch.”
Jacob Trouba has already learned in just a few months what all these former players and co-workers know: Laviolette spends a lot of time not just working on his team’s Xs and Os, but on how to build a capital-t Team.
“You’ve got to go play the games and play well, that’s the most important thing,” Trouba said. “But there’s a lot that goes into the bonding part and caring about each other and that’s what really builds a team. We’ve put an emphasis on that, he’s put an emphasis on that and that’s been a big difference for us this year.”
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