When the Washington Capitals hired Peter Laviolette to be their head coach after the 2020 bubble playoffs I think the vast majority of people thought that that was a good hire. After winning the Stanley Cup in 2018 the Caps had back to back disappointing playoff appearances. The year after the Cup win they lost to the Hurricanes in round one in seven games. They followed that by getting ousted by the Islanders in the bubble.
In both of those series there were a lot of players who looked disinterested. In both of those series losses you could just tell the other team wanted to win more. That was really a characteristic that haunted Todd Reirden’s version of the Capitals.
While Reirden’s Capitals won in the regular season, a lot, they would have long stretches in games where the team looked like they were giving less than 100%. The thing about those teams were they were so talented that even though they only played good for 20-30 minutes a game they would blitz you for that time and end up walking away with W’s. That can work in the regular season, we all saw how it clearly doesn’t work in the postseason.
Whether that kind of play is on the coach or not is debatable. But the coach is in charge. No matter what goes wrong it’s on him or her, in all sports. I felt the Caps needed a veteran coach who knew what it took to take a team far into the playoffs. A coach that wouldn’t let a team slack as much as they were. That was a reason why I personally loved the hiring of Laviolette. A veteran coach who had taken three other teams to the Stanley Cup Final (CAR in ’06, PHI in ’10 & NSH in ’17), winning with Carolina in 2006.
I think it’s fair to say that this team since Laviolette took over is better, but how much better?
The eye test alone should tell you a lot. The Capitals no longer have those incredibly long stretches of games where the other team “dominates” them. More times than not Washington is ready to go and they play as close to a sixty minute game as possible. Some games are better than others, but that is obviously just how sports work.
In that category Laviolette has been a success. It’s clear the team doesn’t run him, he runs the team. He won’t let the players get away with giving half efforts for large chunks of games.
How much better is this team statistically?
Honestly, it’s not that much that separates these teams and these two head coaches. Laviolette’s Capitals have seen a little increase in the numbers, but nothing drastic. Lets take a look at some of these stats.
I think it also needs to be pointed out that not all situations are created equally. Todd Reirden had over 150 games behind the Washington bench, Laviolette is just over 100. I think it also goes without saying that Reirden basically had two full normal seasons as coach while Laviolette has had to coach in the COVID world and one season was shortened as a result, among other issues in those seasons.
It also needs to be said all the numbers we’ll talk about today are 5v5.
Here are Reirden’s Capitals numbers.
Corsi% – 50.17
Scoring Chance% – 50.09
High Danger Attempts% – 47.18
Expected Goals For% – 48.94
Now here is Laviolette’s teams.
Corsi% – 51.04
Scoring Chance For% – 51.56
High Danger Attempts% – 51.83
Expected Goals For% – 51.73
All the numbers under Laviolette have gone up. The first two numbers aren’t that different, but any time they increase obviously the team is playing better. The last two numbers are the big difference. Lets dive into those numbers a little more shall we.
Under Reirden the Capitals had 8.58 high danger attempts a game. At the same time they gave up 9.60 high danger chances a game. These numbers led to the Capitals scoring 2.33 goals a game while 5v5 and giving up 2 goals.
Laviolette’s teams have been better defensively while the offensive numbers have dipped just a little bit. His Caps get 8.37 high danger chances a game and give up 7.78 high danger attempts. Those numbers leading to 2.30 goals a game and 1.80 goals against a game.
You can see, while the offense has gone south by just a tick the defensive numbers have improved a lot. Under Laviolette Washington gives up nearly two fewer high danger chances than Reirden’s teams. That being a big reason why the expected goals number has improved by a pretty big amount.
All of those are also leading to more success for Laviolette. He and his team have a .660 point percentage while the Reirden led Capitals had a .642 point percentage. Laviolette also has a better win percentage as well winning 59.22% of his games coaches compared to Reirden’s 58.94%.
Of course, like we said earlier, all of this is happening during a very difficult time to play and especially coach hockey. I think it could be argued that Laviolette should be in the coach of the year discussions. His team has been close to the top of the standings all year and he has had to deal with a ton of injuries and COVID issues all year long.
I think it’s clear and obvious Peter Laviolette has done a tremendous job so far as the coach of the Washington Capitals. A lot better than his predecessor. How much better? That is also for you to decide.