Ex-Rangers coach to have Artemi Panarin reunion after Kings coaching decision
Fourteen months after he was fired by the New York Rangers, Peter Laviolette is back in the NHL, and reuniting with one of the best players from his Blueshirts tenure. Per multiple reports, Laviolette is the new coach of the Los Angeles Kings, who acquired Artemi Panarin from the Rangers this past February.
That Laviolette is headed to Hollywood is a bit of a surprise. Recent chatter and news reports focused more on Laviolette interviewing with two Canadian teams, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers. The Kings angle flew a bit under the radar, but Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was first to report Laviolette’s hiring on Monday.
The 61-year-old replaces D.J. Smith, who was 11-6-6 as interim coach after the Kings fired Jim Hiller. Under Smith’s guidance down the stretch, the Kings (35-27-20) snagged the final wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. The Kings were swept by the Colorado Avalanche in four games of their best-of-7 first-round series, and managed just five goals. Panarin had a hand in three of the five tallies, scoring twice and adding an assist.
It was the fifth consecutive season that the Kings lost in the first round of the playoffs.
So, Laviolette’s got some serious work ahead of him, especially following the retirement of Kings captain — and two-time Stanley Cup champion — Anze Kopitar. Though Vincent Trocheck has a 10-team no-trade clause in his contract and a stated preference not to play on the West Coast, it’s worth wondering if Laviolette could help convince the Rangers center to accept a deal this offseason to be reunited with Panarin, his former linemate in New York.
In 2023-24, Laviolette led the Rangers to the Presidents’ Trophy for best regular-season record in the NHL. Along the way, the Rangers set franchise records for most wins (55) and points (114) in a season. Panarin had his best season, establishing career highs with 49 goals and 120 points. His point total was second-most in Rangers history, and Panarin finished fifth in voting for the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP.
That same season, Trocheck was an NHL All-Star and recorded a career-best 77 points. Now he’s on the trade block in the middle of New York’s retool, and Los Angeles is desperate to land a top-six center.
Former Rangers coach Peter Laviolette lands job behind Kings bench
Laviolette hit the talk-show interview circuit in recent months, making sure his profile was front and center when it came time to be considered for NHL coaching vacancies. He repeatedly stated how this time away from the League was good for him, and that he felt re-charged and hungry to start anew with another team in 2026-27.
“It’s been good. I mean, everyone wants to work, but honestly I think a break coming out of New York was good,” Laviolette explained recently on NHL Network’s “First Shift.”
“Now, sitting here and watching the playoffs, you just want to get back out there and get after it again. But we’ll see what happens. I think it’s been good, just from a refreshing standpoint. Sometimes you just take a minute, take a beat and get your mind back on track, and that’s where things are right now.”
Laviolette is seventh all-time among NHL coaches with 846 wins, and that doesn’t even include his 88 postseason victories. He coached three different teams to the Stanley Cup Final, and led the Carolina Hurricanes to their only championship in 2006. No United States-born coach in League history has more wins than Laviolette, who’s 69 victories ahead of another former Rangers coach, John Tortorella.
After his terrific first season with the Rangers in 2023-24 that ended in a six-game loss to the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference Final, Laviolette’s golden touch disappeared the following season. Amid much off-ice strife, the Rangers face-planted in 2024-25, becoming the fourth team in NHL history to miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs one year after winning the Presidents’ Trophy.
Laviolette doesn’t shoulder all the blame for New York’s collapsethat season. And the Rangers actually were worse this past season under Mike Sullivan, finishing last in the Eastern Conference. So, perhaps, there was some vindication for him there.
ESPN’s Emily Kaplan reported Laviolette received a three-year contract with the Kings, the seventh team he will coach in the NHL. That means he and Panarin should have at least two more seasons together. The 34-year-old forward secured a two-year, $22 million deal after the Kings acquired him this past season.
