In a way, it feels like destiny for Laviolette III to get his start behind the bench with Wheeling, too. His father went there after an 11-season playing career as a defenseman, including 12 games in the NHL with the Rangers in 1988-89, that ended in 1997 after a season as a player-assistant under coach Bob Francis with Providence of the American Hockey League.
When Francis was promoted to join the Boston Bruins as an assistant in 1997-98, Providence offered Laviolette a job as a full-time assistant, but he was more interested in the vacant head coach’s job, which went to Tom McVie. Seeking head coaching experience, Laviolette interviewed for the Wheeling job and got it.
“It's kind of funny because I think back now after I don't know whatever it is, (1,594) games, and what I didn't know back then, it's almost like I can't believe they hired me,” said Laviolette, who was inducted into the Wheeling Hall of Fame in 2023. “I went from being a player and not really knowing systems, and usually there’s a little more runway to being a head coach, kind of like Peter's path right now.”
Wheeling went 37-24-9 in 1997-98 under Laviolette and reached the ECHL conference finals before losing to Hampton Roads, the eventual Kelly Cup winner, in six games. Providence brought Laviolette back as head coach in 1998-99 and he guided them to the Calder Cup. After a second season in Providence and one as an assistant with Boston, Laviolette landed his first NHL head coaching job with the Islanders in 2001.
Laviolette III remembers going to games as a kid wearing a suit and tie, like his father behind the Islanders bench.
“Even before that, when he was in Providence, I used to wear a little hockey helmet and I'd skate around the supermarket like I was one of his players,” Laviolette III said. “I've always had a huge passion. I’ve just always known that when I became an adult and kind of stopped playing hockey that I wanted to stay in the game in some capacity as a coach or whatever it may have been.”
It looked like his playing career might be over after he completed his college eligibility at Division III Plymouth State in New Hampshire in 2022, but he wanted to give pro hockey a try. With his father coaching the Capitals at the time, he was invited to their prospect development camp.
Laviolette III impressed enough at development camp to earn an invite to the Capitals training camp the following September. That led to what he calls “a highlight of my hockey career,” of getting to skate on a line with Alex Ovechkin, the NHL’s all-time leader with 929 goals, and Evgeny Kuznetsov for one shift at practice.
It also led to a contract with Wheeling, which was the Pittsburgh Penguins ECHL affiliate at the time. After Laviolette III signed with Wheeling, his father told him to look up Mike Baker, one of the team’s former owners who interviewed him for the head coaching job back in 1997 and still lives in the area.
That’s how he met Baker’s daughter, Lindsey. They were married earlier this year and welcomed their first child, daughter Leah, on July 19.
“It’s a crazy story,” Laviolette III said. “We were both born in Wheeling, West Virginia, like a week apart. (Baker) hired my dad to his first job, his first head coach's job. At the time, his wife and my mother were both pregnant. … Now, I have my wife, and a beautiful daughter.”
Laviolette III played three seasons in Wheeling before splitting last season between Orlando and Savannah and deciding it was time to start the next chapter in his life. He sent out his resume and interviewed for various assistant jobs, ranging from college, to junior, the ECHL and AHL.
None led to a job until he heard Wheeling, which is now affiliated with the Columbus Blue Jackets, was looking to fill out its coaching staff. Laviolette reached out to former Wheeling coach Derek Army and radio announcer/director of media relations D.J. Abisalih to find out more.
After hiring head coach Nate DiCasmirro and associate coach Jason Payne, Wheeling still had an opening for an assistant. Laviolette III proved to be the right man for the job.
“I've always been a Nailer at heart,” he said. “I love this city. I love the fans. I love being here. I couldn't think of a more perfect spot for me and my wife to come and try and figure out the coaching side of this.”
Laviolette III hopes to bring youthful energy to the staff and take in as much coaching knowledge as he can.
“I’m a first-year coach. I’m very eager to learn,” he said. “I’m an open book. I’m a sponge. I just want to take it all in and just be there to support the coaches in any way I can.”
Laviolette III has an advantage on most other first-time coaches, though, from growing up around his father. While each was going through different interview processes this offseason, they watched video together and Laviolette III learned all he could from his father.
“I’ve been studying with him all summer, going over his system, his mindset on the game,” he said.
Some of it might come natural to him, though.
“The acorn really doesn't fall far from a tree, you know,” the elder Laviolette said. “That doesn't mean that he had to become a coach or that all my kids have to become coaches. It just means that this is what he grew up watching, and he grew up seeing his whole life. And this a guy who loves the game.
“He wants to be on the ice. He wants to make a difference in people's lives on the ice and off the ice and I think it's a really good first step for him.”
Where it goes from here is unknown, but Laviolette III is ready to put in the time and effort to find out.
“I think every person, every child wants to make it to the NHL as a player, right?” he said. “For me as a child, I always said, ‘I want to make it as a coach. I want to be like my dad.’ Like I was saying in my interviews, maybe where I lack experience in years, I have experience in life. I've seen it my whole life with my dad.
“I'm excited to see what I've learned and see what has really registered with me in my head and see how it comes out as a coach.”
