As first reported by Elliotte Friedman and confirmed by (friend of the site) Samantha Pell, the Caps have hired Peter Laviolette as head coach:
Pell later confirmed that Laviolette’s deal will be for 3 years, and Pierre LeBrun said that the deal will be for “north of $4 million per year.”
This will be Laviolette’s fifth head coaching job, as he was the head coach of the Nashville Predators from 2014-2020, the Philadelphia Flyers from 2009-14, the Carolina Hurricanes from 2003-2009, and the New York Islanders from 2001-2003.
Laviolette has won a Stanley Cup with the Hurricanes in 2005-06, and made two other appearances in the Stanley Cup with the Flyers in 2009-10 and the Predators in 2016-17.
Alex Ervin of Japers Rink previewed Laviolette as a potential head coaching candidate a few days ago, noting that he might bring discipline to the Caps, but there’s been some mild controversy at his prior stops:
As noted by Pell, Laviolette seems to fit the description of what the Caps were looking for:
From the team’s press release on the hiring: