{"id":136850,"date":"2023-04-15T00:40:09","date_gmt":"2023-04-15T04:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=136850"},"modified":"2023-04-15T00:40:09","modified_gmt":"2023-04-15T04:40:09","slug":"washington-capitals-head-coach-peter-laviolette-departs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2023\/04\/15\/washington-capitals-head-coach-peter-laviolette-departs\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington Capitals Head Coach Peter Laviolette Departs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/category\/capitals\/\" target=\"_self\">Washington Capitals<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/l\/laviope01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-04-14_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Peter Laviolette<\/a> have agreed to part ways. The 2022-23 season marks the first time since 2013-14 that the Capitals failed to qualify for the playoffs. The team\u2019s General Manager <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/m\/maclebr01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-04-14_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brian MacLellan<\/a> announced on Friday. The decision was deemed mutual with Laviolette\u2019s contract expiring upon the conclusion of the season.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">NEWS | The Washington Capitals and head coach Peter Laviolette have agreed to mutually part ways.<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/gb9IHQu1Ol\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/gb9IHQu1Ol<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Washington Capitals (@Capitals) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Capitals\/status\/1646985335295942659?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 14, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Washington Capitals, Peter Laviolette Part Ways<\/h2>\n<p>For the Capitals under Laviolette, they had a very respectable 115-68-27 regular season record. Laviolette was hired before the start of the 2020-21 season after previous Head Coach <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/r\/reirdto01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-04-14_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Todd Reirden<\/a> was let go. For the first two seasons under Laviolette, the Capitals saw first-round playoff exits. However, the Capitals need something to kickstart them. It has been a struggle in Washington for a couple of years. Since the 2018 Stanley Cup Win under Head Coach Barry Trotz and an aging roster, it is time for a change.<\/p>\n<h3>What Does the Future Hold in Store<\/h3>\n<p>For Washington, the organization has one major priority, and that is to see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/o\/ovechal01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-04-14_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alex Ovechkin<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/ca.sports.yahoo.com\/news\/alex-ovechkin-now-in-the-drivers-seat-to-pass-wayne-gretzky-for-nhl-scoring-record-193755374.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">chase the record<\/a>. It can be difficult for the franchise to cater to a superstar and remain competitive on the ice. In contrast, Ovechkin is still quite productive and is not considered a downgrade. At 37, Ovechkin scored 42 goals in 73 games. Going into next year, he is 72 goals away from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/g\/gretzwa01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-04-14_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Wayne Gretzky<\/a>\u2019s regular season goal total record of 894. Furthermore, Ovechkin is still a top threat on the power play and should continue as such for a couple of years. The Capitals did make moves that suggest they want to be competitive. The acquisition of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/s\/sandira01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-04-14_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rasmus Sandin<\/a> could end up being a huge win for the organization. They still have a cup-winning goalie, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/k\/kuempda01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-04-14_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Darcy Kuemper<\/a>, between the pipes.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportsnet.ca\/nhl\/article\/capitals-and-head-coach-peter-laviolette-mutually-agree-to-part-ways\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">According to Sportsnet<\/a>, two possible candidates to replace Laviolette, include Spencer Carbery and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/h\/halpeje01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-04-14_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jeff Halpern<\/a>. Carbery is a former Washington assistant who now works for the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/category\/leafs\/\" target=\"_self\">Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> organization. Meanwhile, Halpern is a former captain, who won two cups under Jon Cooper\u2019s staff with the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/category\/lightning\/\" target=\"_self\">Tampa Bay Lightning<\/a>. Maybe a new coach is just what the organization could use to inject some life back into the lineup.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Washington Capitals and Peter Laviolette have agreed to part ways. The 2022-23 season marks the first time since 2013-14 that the Capitals failed to qualify for the playoffs. The team\u2019s General Manager Brian MacLellan announced on Friday. The decision was deemed mutual with Laviolette\u2019s contract expiring upon the conclusion of the season. NEWS | [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4222,"featured_media":136854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4548,4547,34,15],"tags":[5240,1547,6111],"class_list":["post-136850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nhl","category-hockey","category-news","category-capitals","tag-brian-maclellan","tag-peter-laviolette","tag-washington-capitals-news"],"modified_by":"Alex Metzger, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4222"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136850\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}