{"id":14049,"date":"2026-06-11T04:02:41","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T04:02:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=14049"},"modified":"2026-06-11T04:02:41","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T04:02:41","slug":"new-kings-coach-peter-laviolette-looks-to-ignite-their-stodgy-offense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=14049","title":{"rendered":"New Kings coach Peter Laviolette looks to ignite their stodgy offense"},"content":{"rendered":"
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EL SEGUNDO \u2014 The Kings have a new head coach.<\/p>\n

Yes, again.<\/p>\n

But the new boss, Peter Laviolette, is not much like the old bosses.<\/p>\n

For openers, he\u2019s just the second of the 32 coaches in franchise history to arrive in Los Angeles with a Stanley Cup in his trophy case, the other being Marc Crawford. Though the drops of champagne on his upper lip have long dissipated since that 2006 triumph with Carolina, Laviolette returned to the Stanley Cup Final with Philadelphia in 2010 and Nashville in 2017, also winning the Presidents\u2019 Trophy with the New York Rangers in 2024.<\/p>\n

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With the Hurricanes, he won the Cup in his second season on the job and as a Flyer he hadn\u2019t even put in a full campaign behind the bench before finishing two wins shy of a second championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou look at his r\u00e9sum\u00e9, all the teams that he\u2019s been with and the impact he\u2019s had on those teams the first couple of years, right off the bat,\u201d Kings general manager Ken Holland said. \u201cGoing to the Stanley Cup Final three times with three different teams and also winning a Calder Cup at the (AHL) level, pro hockey is hard to win at, and he\u2019s done a lot of winning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond his cachet, which reportedly attracted other suitors like the Toronto Maple Leafs, the 61-year-old Laviolette has long employed a forward-thinking, engaging and offensively aggressive style. Though Laviolette acknowledged the importance of defending and a broad spectrum of successful approaches to the game, he also elaborated on his philosophy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough my experiences and even just watching the playoffs right now, this is an attack-orientated game,\u201d Laviolette said. \u201cThat attack mode, for me, is something that I\u2019ve believed in my whole life.\u201d<\/p>\n

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That statement stood in stark contrast to the longstanding stodginess of the Kings, which dissipated into flat-out ineffectiveness under Jim Hiller for three quarters of last season until he was sacked. Prominently, Laviolette\u2019s teams have featured defensemen who liberally join the rush and get involved in five-man cycles, concepts that were largely foreign to the Kings\u2019 corps last season.<\/p>\n

Laviolette said there will be \u201cone set of rules and one set of plans\u201d for all of his defensemen, regardless of their profile and attributes. Holland said changes on the blue line will be made through a combination of attitudinal shifts and personnel reconfiguration.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been talking about that. I\u2019m working the phones, we\u2019ll see what can happen,\u201d Holland said when asked if he might swap out some pieces on a back end full of recent arrivals.<\/p>\n

Cody Ceci and Brian Dumoulin just signed on last summer. Joel Edmundson joined two seasons ago, the same year Brandt Clarke became a regular. Holland said that while he\u2019d spoken with the Kings\u2019 longest tenured defenseman, Drew Doughty, about a possible contract extension, he wasn\u2019t making it a significant priority to put pen to paper before training camp.<\/p>\n

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Doughty\u2019s longtime teammate, An\u017ee Kopitar, retired this spring and left a huge void to fill in the middle. That is the most imminent item on Holland\u2019s to-do list. Laviolette, whose only full season outside the head coaching ranks in the past quarter-century came during Kopitar\u2019s final campaign, lamented not being able to work with the two-way virtuoso.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe amazing career that he had, the gentleman that he was and the player and the leader that he\u2019s been for the L.A. Kings, I would have really welcomed that opportunity,\u201d Laviolette said. \u201cI wish him nothing but the best. He was a huge part of this organization for so many years and led it the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n

As yet unresolved are which coaches will work under Laviolette. Holland verified that interim coach D.J. Smith will not return in any capacity. He also said Laviolette had \u201csomebody in mind to come in and be part of the staff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Laviolette would not confirm if that person was Hall-of-Fame defenseman Phil Housley or not. He did allude to Housley\u2019s quality as a coach and the success they enjoyed together in Nashville and New York, where they guided Kings winger Artemi Panarin.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a really good relationship with Artemi in New York. He\u2019s one of the most talented players I\u2019ve ever coached, and I\u2019m really happy to get to work with him again,\u201d Laviolette said. \u201cI also worked with Kevin Fiala when he was a real young player, and Darcy Kuemper.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond the individual components, Laviolette spoke of his three-pronged approach to building a winner: a familial atmosphere in the locker room, a diligent work ethic on the ice and a culture of strong accountability.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you put those three things together, you can really become an unstoppable force,\u201d Laviolette said.<\/p>\n

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Kings got a new coach in Peter Laviolette, but now what?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n