Master Motivator Laviolette Reaches 600 NHL Victories

He won't take all of the credit. Or even most of it.
Instead, he'll want to acknowledge his assistant coaches and his players, all of the trainers and equipment managers who make life easier, his family, friends and the vast support group necessary to not only partake in this line of work, but to thrive.
The reality is he has previously walked off of an NHL bench 599 times as a winner.

So, as the horn sounded in Colorado on Monday and the Nashville Predators poured off the bench to congratulate their goaltender, Peter Laviolette stepped off the bench and down the tunnel once more, this time with NHL victory No. 600 to his name.
And that deserves a heaping helping of credit.
It's a monumental accomplishment - he's just the second U.S.-born head coach to ever attain the feat, and just the 20th to hit 600 in the more than 100-year history of the League - and 211 of those wins have come as the bench boss in Nashville, more than any of the other three clubs he's instructed.
A 2006 Stanley Cup Champion with the Carolina Hurricanes, Laviolette also guided the Philadelphia Flyers to the 2010 Stanley Cup Final, and of course, took the Preds to the Final in 2017. Nashville has made the Stanley Cup Playoffs in each of Laviolette's four seasons behind the bench, and his .623 point percentage with the Predators rises high above any of his other previous stops.
Laviolette's skillset as a leader and a motivator are readily evident by the way his teams perform on and off the ice, but in his five seasons with the Preds - his longest stay with any team in his career - the native of Franklin, Massachusetts, has shown his ability to develop skilled players into all-world talents.

Just ask Filip Forsberg - undoubtedly gifted with offensive prowess, the Swede has thrived in four-plus seasons under Laviolette's system.
"He just came in and brought that new philosophy, just wanted to play more offensive hockey than Nashville had been known for before," Forsberg said of his coach. "For a player like me, that was a perfect fit… and now, I've developed into more of a 200-foot player. He's been awesome since day one, and I'm really happy we have him here."
Check with Colton Sissons, a player who has gone from flying back and forth to the American Hockey League to playing an integral role in Nashville's forward corps.
"My game has come a long way ever since I was the guy getting called up and down," Sissons said. "I've been through every role as a player with him, and we've built a really strong relationship and trust together. I couldn't be happier with how things worked out when he came to Nashville, and I owe a lot of my success to him."
Mattias Ekholm can attest to Laviolette's impact as well. The defenseman is having a career-year and is now a player that most would call one of the most underrated in the NHL.
"He's a great human being, first of all," Ekholm said of Laviolette. "He's just a great guy, and as a coach for me, I mean he really elevated my career. I had one year in the League and it was so up and down, and I couldn't really find my way. When he got here, he pumped me with confidence, and he really helped my game to grow into what it is today."
Even Ryan Johansen, the star centerman Nashville had always coveted, has not only grown as a player, but also a leader under Laviolette's guidance.
"What I appreciate the most as a player is not only how he's dealt with me, which has been great how he's pushed me to be the best I can be, but how he takes pride in every single guy on this club," Johansen said of Laviolette. "He takes the extra time and extra focus to make sure every player on this team and in the organization become the best that they can be, and it's impressive how much pride he takes in that."
And for all Laviolette has done for the individuals on his roster, it's perhaps his ability to bring a team together - particularly his motivational tactics - that deserve the most attention.

Predators players have said it before: after hearing Laviolette speak, they're often ready to run, or skate, through a proverbial wall. Vernon Fiddler, who was reacquired by the Predators during their stretch run to the playoffs in 2017, once said after a morning skate that even though he wasn't even playing that night, he was amped enough to play right then and there thanks to Laviolette's words.
It's a skill Laviolette has possessed through his entire career, and while it may not work every night, the ability for a head coach to not sound like a broken record over the course of an 82-game season is impressive enough, especially when the message is articulated the way it is in the Nashville dressing room.
"He somehow finds a way to keep it fresh and to keep it new, but staying equally motivating," Sissons said. "He's always in the locker room fired up and it rubs off on everyone else. He's an amazing coach, and we're lucky to have him."
"He's always got us on edge and on point, and we never get to relax, even when we're going really well," Ekholm said. "He's one of the best ones at the motivation part of it, and you're always so fired up for every game when you have him as a coach."
There's just something different about Laviolette, how he gets the most out of his players, how he brings a team and an organization together. From the captain, all the way down to the very person writing this article, he has an uncanny ability to make everyone feel a part of something special, something bigger than themselves.
And as he guides his club toward the ultimate goal, there are bound to be a few more players he molds, a few more pregame speeches of epic proportions, a few more walks off of that bench as a winner.
So, give credit where credit is due - the man they call "Lavi" deserves plenty of it.