MONTREAL — Like many other NHL head coaches, Peter Laviolette already had a reputation as a detail-oriented coach when he took the job with the Rangers.
The emphasis on video, individual and group meetings for all situations, as well as analytics, is not new around the NHL or any other sports league.
It’s only become more relevant and valued as the years have gone on.
For the Rangers in particular, Laviolette and his staff’s elaborate preparations have appeared to go over quite well in the locker room.
The Blueshirts have been incredibly receptive to it after essentially calling for more coaching as Gerard Gallant was shown the door at the end of last season.
“Our preparation is at a place where it hasn’t been since I’ve been here,” K’Andre Miller told The Post before the Rangers took on the Canadiens at Bell Centre on Saturday night. “It’s a lot of learning, but it’s also you kind of know what is coming before the puck drops, which is always nice. Being prepared and ready for what other teams throw at you is always a huge advantage and a huge factor in the game. I think being prepared for the different looks and situations is a huge factor going into this year.”
Miller may be in just his fourth NHL season, but the 23-year-old defenseman is onto his third coach.
That’s enough for him to make such a statement and mean it.
Though the Rangers’ body of work this season — first place in the Metropolitan Division and a 10-1-0 record after losses — speaks for itself.
For Jimmy Vesey, who has played under eight different NHL coaches over his eight years in the league, there have been many other detailed bench bosses who he’s played for.
The difference with Laviolette, the 30-year-old forward said, is his magnified attention to the defensive side of the game.
“The whole thing’s evolved,” Laviolette said of preparing his teams and how the process has transformed. “You’re talking a long time ago, unfortunately, you’re talking decades ago. To think about what it was when I first came in and started coaching, you’re going tape to tape. You had two recorders trying to figure out what you might show, and it was really difficult to go.
“Now there’s so many coaches working inside of that room right now — the video coaches, the assistant coaches. Part of my job is making sure that everybody does their job. We’ve got an amazing staff in there that I’m really fortunate to be with and have worked with me. I can’t say enough about that. But I do think that preparation is part of it. Players want to be coached.
“It’s important not to over-coach or overthink, but they do want some information. They want to know and see when things are going right and they want to be fixed when they’re not going correct. That’s the responsibility of a coach.”
Whenever the players are asked about a specific part of their game that especially stood out against a particular opponent, they often begin their answers by stating how it was talked about beforehand as a team.
The Rangers have gone to school on their opponents week after week, and it resulted in a franchise-best start.
Laviolette may have always been a detail-oriented coach, but it’s the way the Rangers have embraced it that has mattered.
“Just breaking down every part of the game,” Miller said. “We have 20-plus faceoff plays this year, which we haven’t worked on a faceoff play I don’t think in the last — I don’t know — two or three years as much as we have this year on that type of thing. Even things like goalie touches and different breakouts or different ways to take a rush. It’s just a lot of different things that we’re breaking down to make sure that if we get in a situation where it presents itself, we’re prepared and we know what to do.”