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There is no need for those one-sentence sound bites taken out of context and posted on social media to make Peter Laviolette look bad. The Rangers and their head coach have done that all by themselves. 

I wrote many times during the first half of the season that the hierarchy did not have the stomach to allow the core to take down a third coach within five seasons. That is why I believe Laviolette is making it to the finish line, in spite of this team’s relapse into disrepute over the past three-plus weeks that brought the Blueshirts to the precipice of elimination at UBS on Thursday. 

But that largesse should not extend to the offseason. Laviolette was no innocent bystander any more than any one of the core guys on the ice who already had run David Quinn and Gerard Gallant out of town after three and two seasons, respectively. 

Laviolette was not to blame for the junior high school victimization vibe that infected the room for most of the 2024 portion of the program. But he was not able to get out in front of it. More to the point, every young player other than Will Cuylle has regressed under Laviolette’s watch, and the defense imploded under associate Phil Housley.