Rangers coach Peter Laviolette focused on new season, not ‘rearview mirror’

In his second season behind the New York Rangers bench, coach Peter Laviolette will once again try to lead his team to a Stanley Cup championship. In year one, the Rangers came close, reaching the Eastern Conference Final before being eliminated by the eventual champion Florida Panthers in six games.

Now, it is time to turn ahead to 2024-25, where the Rangers and Laviolette have essentially the same group of players looking to get over the hump of the third round.

“I always think there’s an excitement,” Laviolette explained on Monday . “The end of last year is so far rearview mirror stuff and the windshield now is just looking at this brand new season. It’s a chance to make your mark and go out and do great things. It starts with game one in Pittsburgh.”

The Rangers will drop the puck at PPG Paints Arena against Sidney Crosby and the Penguins on Wednesday, officially marking the start of the new season, and turning the page on last year’s bitter playoff exit.

“Unless you rang the bell at the end of the year, there’s always that phase where you get out of it, for everybody,” said Laviolette. “There’s this depression or sadness, there’s no way to do it. You’re in a forward march for 200 days and then the season ends and everything’s just cut off. With that, you realize that your season is over. Unless you got there, you’re not happy about what happened.”

The Rangers seemed destined to at least make it to the Cup Final last season after finishing atop the League with 114 points, securing the Presidents’ Trophy. After winning seven straight playoff games to begin the postseason, it appeared they were on the path to delivering the first Stanley Cup championship to New York City since 1994.

They ran into an even better Panthers team, which was built top-to-bottom with immense skill, grit and depth needed to win a championship. Though the Rangers battled until the finish, it was not enough to advance any further.

Related: Rangers’ Victor Mancini expected to make NHL debut in season opener

Rangers coach says ‘guys are ready’ to begin new season

The Rangers return the majority of their roster this season, and have added Reilly Smith into the mix, hopefully to fill the void on New York’s top line with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. They also have a fully healthy Filip Chytil, who has looked very sharp in training camp.

With the new season comes a new sense of excitement for Laviolette and the organization.

“You start to get excited again,” Laviolette explained. “The draft comes and then free agency, and you start thinking about your team again. Changes to the players, changes to the staff, and then you get out on the ice in training camp and it’s really good. Guys are ready, they come into camp in such good shape now. Everything is high intensity and high tempo, and it really was from day one.”

The Rangers earned a 4-2-0 preseason record, and will look to pick up where they left off last season, with a dominant run through the 82-game grind. But it won’t be easy to replicate.

Already, for instance, the Rangers are dealing with health issues. Ryan Lindgren (upper body) and Jimmy Vesey (lower body) will miss the start of the regular season with injuries that are expected to sideline each a few weeks.

The Rangers hopefully skirted an injury issue with Artemi Panarin. The star forward, who was fourth in NHL scoring last season with 120 points, that included a career-high 49 goals, had a lower-body issue which forced him to exit two preseason games early. But the 32-year-old declared himself good to go Monday for the regular-season opener.

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