Fansided

Every current NHL franchise’s most beloved head coach

By Griffin Youngs

(Original Caption) Detroit Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman with the Stanley Cup on day of Red Wings celebratory parade in Detroit. (Photo by © Ralf-Finn Hestoft/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)
(Original Caption) Detroit Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman with the Stanley Cup on day of Red Wings celebratory parade in Detroit. (Photo by © Ralf-Finn Hestoft/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images) /
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Carolina Hurricanes’ head coach Peter Laviolette, right, and assistant coach Kevin McCarthy during the second period against the New Jersey Devils in game three in the Eastern Conference Semifinals of the Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, NJ on Wednesday, May 10, 2006. Carolina defeated the Devils 3-2 and take a 3-0 lead in the series. (Photo by Richard Schultz/NHLImages)
Carolina Hurricanes’ head coach Peter Laviolette, right, and assistant coach Kevin McCarthy during the second period against the New Jersey Devils in game three in the Eastern Conference Semifinals of the Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, NJ on Wednesday, May 10, 2006. Carolina defeated the Devils 3-2 and take a 3-0 lead in the series. (Photo by Richard Schultz/NHLImages) /

Carolina Hurricanes: Peter Laviolette

The Carolina Hurricanes have not had the luck of the draw recently after missing the playoffs for a ninth straight season, but times were not always so bleak for the Canes. Carolina once sat on top of the hockey world, under the direction of their then head coach Peter Laviolette.

Laviolette was brought onboard the Hurricanes organization in the 2003-04 season, replacing Paul Maurice in the midst of a rebuilding season. In his second year as head coach of the Hurricanes after the league-wide lockout, Laviolette put together the best regular season in Hurricanes history, a record that still stands to this day.

In the 2006 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Hurricanes lost their first two games against the Montreal Canadiens in the first round on home ice, and it looked as thought we were in for a short playoff run. Then they won the next four games to win the series, and the two rounds after to head to the Stanley Cup Finals. The Laviolette led Hurricanes topped the Edmonton Oilers in a thrilling seven games to clinch their first and only Stanley Cup in franchise history.

The Stanley Cup victory was not just meaningful for Hurricanes organization, but the whole state of North Carolina. The Hurricanes to this day are the first and only professional sports team in North Carolina to have ever won a championship, and even though Carolina was unable to make it back to postseason after Cup win under Laviolette, that is a fact that can never be changed.

Laviolette is currently the head coach of the Nashville Predators, who took a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals last year and claimed the Presidents Trophy this year. Laviolette also led the Philadelphia Flyers to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2010, their first since 1996.

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