OverDrive - Laviolette on the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the postseason mentality and Draisaitl's return for the Oilers

Episode Date: April 20, 2026

Former NHL Head Coach Peter Laviolette joined OverDrive to discuss the adjustments for teams throughout the playoffs, experience in Carolina, the mentality in the midst of a Stanley Cup Playoffs series, Leon Draisaitl's return for the Oilers and more.

Well, let's bring him in. Cop champ. He's been around the league for a long time. Here he is on overdrive. There's O's former coach, Peter Labby-A-Let. How are you doing, Peter? How are you doing? How are you doing well?

We're doing well. Lavi, I just want to kick this off by telling you. I'm 50 years old now, and I have a great appreciation for how good a coach you were. And I understand I was probably a pain in your ass. But just now being an old man, I truly understand, like, your motivation, and all you wanted me to do was be a better player and to help the team be better. So I have a deep appreciation for that. I just want to tell you that.

Thanks, so. You had an unbelievable career, buddy. I love working with you. It was great. Well, it's great to have you on. You don't have to start lying now, laugh. Yeah, you could say, you could actually be honest with us. It would be like, geez, that's why I benched you two games into the season because I didn't see that yet.

I mean, we can have some of those, too. Listen, it was great in Carolina. Like, you know, you don't just, you don't always walk in and just do something right off the hop. And sometimes it takes a little bit, and that took a lockout. I mean, it was a long time. We sat the whole year before we came back and made some noise in the playoffs and won a cup. But it was my time in Carolina, I've loved everywhere I've been, but my time in Carolina, some of my best friends are from there that we got together for that reunion down in Carolina,

the 20 years on the Cup and to see old faces and just spend time with those guys, the staff, the players, the coaches, you know, you go through the war of the playoffs. Like right now, everybody's in it, right? You can see the intensity in the games.

And then it ends. And then sometimes those teams, well, most oftentimes those teams are never the same, but then remove it for 10 years, you don't see any of those people anymore, for the most part. And to have those guys, even just like the staff,

the fans, the players, the owner. I saw Jim Ruther, the general manager. It was just great to see everybody over a short period of time. Lavi, we've been talking about the playoffs, and obviously, like, analytics is the big thing now. Like, how do you see guy? Like, what happens for guys to just raise their level and get the job done?

Is it just, like, preparation, their mindset? Like, where do you lie with all this stuff on what makes teams an individual successful in the game now? I think that the analytics definitely lay into the game. Oh, you're going to look at them. You're going to look at the numbers. You're going to look at who's moving zones and who's moving pucks. And you're going to look at matchups on where you've had some success or where you might try to get away from something because it's just not working.

Oftentimes, your eyeballs tell you the same thing. But there's times, I think, when your eyeballs are lying to you. You know, you think in your mind you're seeing something and it's not what's actually happening on the ice. And it could be a bias or, you know, your favorite defensive pair or your favorite player or, you know, you think you've got an offensive line that can hold up against somebody else's top line. And it doesn't always work out that way. So I definitely think that there's a place for it. One, to possibly make adjustments.

Two, to check yourself just to make sure that you're going down the right road. And then from there, I think there's a lot more that goes into it. So for me, it's a tool. It's something that you can utilize to your advantage. But, you know, the start of the playoffs, it's tough. There's changes being made right now, right? Even for the teams that won. So everybody's got a game in except for one group.

And changes are going to be made. It's actually on the teams that didn't find what they were looking for. And certainly on those teams will make some sort of changes. But even though teams that had success, They'll tweak something. They'll make some sort of change because it'll be some part of the game that they didn't like. Well, and I'm curious how difficult that can be in terms of expressing that to your players. Like if, let's say you're in Minnesota and you won 6-1 against the Dallas team,

you must be feeling great. Like, how does a coach go in there and say 6-1, but we got to do this a little bit differently? That's got to be challenging to get the message across to players who I'm sure are very confident based on the outcome. Yeah. There's always, I think, something that you, some sort of a message you can bring, even in a game like that, on things that you could do better. But honestly, when you have a game like that where you're 6-1, you might want to hammer those positives a little bit and just come back and say, this is what we did.

And then it's this. And you have it laid out with, you know, whether it's visually written down or whether it's video clip, not a lot, but one or two where you pound the forecheck or you go to the net, whatever it might be. and then you slide in a clip and say, but if we're going to watch for something, make sure you take care of this. So there's changes definitely, I think, that'll be made for, obviously, through series, whether you want to lose the game.

So, Lavi, you know, going into the playoffs, and we always talk about you need goaltending, but what if it's a scenario where you've had a tandem all season long as opposed to just a clear-cott starter? You know, what's the mindset there? Because it can be very tricky sometimes where you've got two capable guys, but you have to give the net to one of them,

and it's a balancing act on how short that leash is. It's a starting point. Like, game one is just a starting point. For guys that are out of the lineup, for starting goaltenders, for, you know, the possible switch of the right wing on the top line, like game one's a starting point just to evaluate, you know, what you did. And sometimes it is a bit of a tandem.

them. When I was in Washington, we had two rookie goalies, and both of them were vying for time. And they both played the entire year, and you have to make a decision to start somebody to go down a road and say, okay, this is who we're going with. But if it's not working, you make those changes and you move on. Lavi, some of your clips with the Rangers, I don't know, those behind the scenes when you're kind of giving it to guys about playing firm and standing up. And explain to people what you mean by that. Is that just an overall competition level where you want everybody to be counted for and just play the right way or just explain that to people that heard that? Well, when I get on here, you guys were talking about that face off.

I'm assuming that you were talking about Carolina and Ottawa, correct? Yes, Kachuk install, yeah. And I thought it was awesome. Not because it was a fight right off the bat, but the Kachukes are, They're tough combatants, right? They're willing to drop the glove. They're willing to go after somebody. And it's almost in their DNA.

And so to go into Carolina's building, I thought Stalled in an unbelievable job of answering the bell on this. And not only answering the bell, but like doing pretty good. At the end, he got in the licks that he wanted to get in. And at this point, right, you could call that a draw, right? Chuk got a couple at the beginning. Stahl got a couple at the end. They both went down to the ground and you could call a draw.

I call it a win for Carolina because Stahl answered the bell in his home building. They wanted to come in and set the tone and send a message on Carolina, who's really not known for that. They're known for throwing 120 attempts at the net. They're known for trying to score five goals. They're known for playing the game fast. They're not necessarily known for that. And so for me, to have your captain stand up like that on the opening draw, I thought it was an unbelievable job.

It gets a checkmark for me as, okay, we started the series the right way. They came in, they tried to do something. We answered the bell. He answered the bell inside of that shift. But you're right. From there, you know, it's the playoffs are awesome. I mean, the physicality that comes out in the playoffs, it's unmatched. I remember my very first series, I think.

I think it might, and I've coached in quite a few series, my very first series was the New York Islanders against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Yeah. That was a war, man. I mean, an all-out war. And that was my first series. Like, that was my initiation into NHL playoff hockey. And to this day, it still goes down as, and we lost in seven games. Like, we went back to Toronto.

I think it was, I think it was three, two. We ended up losing in game seven. but the back and forth and the hits and the fights and the nastiness of it. I mean, that's playoff hockey. And you know, you see it in the series coming out. It comes out early and it stays here and it gets intensified as everything moves on. And so, yeah, it's about that fight on the opening faceoff. But more than that right now, right, it's going to be about the physicality that goes for Ottawa and Carolina.

It's going to be about the battles and the compete inside of that. You win the battles, you win the game. You hit more, you can wear them down. Battles lead to possession. And so all of that comes into play. I just thought it was a really good job by Stalsy to jump in there and do that on the first shift. It's not known for that. Like, that's not his first thing.

His is a defensive shutdown center who can chip in some offense. But, man, he'd do a good job against a really tough guy. So, go ahead. Sorry, I just wanted to jump on that really quickly, Labby. when you've got players that are irritable and are not shy to drop the gloves, when it comes to the playoffs, though, and you've got maybe some guys who are skilled, but they have to play play playoff hockey.

What is something that you would look for from them? They don't need to fight, but is it they're winning the 50-50 battles, competing on pucks? Is it something that you need something different from them in the playoffs to raise their level? That's a great question, because you don't want to get out of your shoes either, right? Like I watched the Vegas game, and I watched a lot of Utah play this year. And they did it by playing the game so fast. And they did it by playing really good defense.

They would shut teams down. They would hold them to 20 shots, 22 shots, 24 shots. But they didn't necessarily do it through the physicality. I think they have to win the lion's share of the battles against Vegas. They have to continue to pound the body and be physical, but I don't know if going after the whistle all the time with a team that's built at 6-4 and 225 pounds, I don't know if that's in that DNA of the makeup of that group.

And I almost like to see them stay a little bit more whistle-to-wistle. And I'm not saying don't compete, and I'm not saying don't play physical or don't have effort in those battles or second effort in the battles. But stick with what got you there. They're a team for me that they were, they were whistle to whistle. They were extremely hard to play against. And they're playing a team that's on a bit of a role right now.

But it's like playing Florida. Like you wouldn't, you know, the past couple years, you wouldn't necessarily try to go in and bully Florida because it, but you got to hit them. You got to compete. You have to win the battles. But do it to the point where you're, you know, your discipline and you're playing the game that you want to play.

with Peter Lavillette. And I'm curious how that would apply to maybe Anaheim's viewpoint of the O'Other game tonight, if Dry Settle plays, and I think we expect he will. If you're Quinville and you've got a guy who's coming back, he hasn't played in a long time, he's probably not at 100%, but he's the definition of a playoff performer. You know Dry Settle is going to give everything he's got tonight. What do you think their game plan will be on Dry Settle in particular?

I often, for me, I often find that really with anybody, but when you're talking about the elite players in the league, it's time and space. And so get the matchup, do your best to get the matchup that you want to get out there against them. And then for me, it's time and space. The quicker you close, the quicker you get sick on puck, the quicker you disrupt them or try to disrupt them. I think the better off you're going to be from a defensive standpoint.

Time and space, I think, for gifted players is money. And so if you can close quick, if you can get there quick, if you can arrive angry, if you can arrive with attitude, those are the things that can help try to slow down, you know, the dry silos and the McDavid's of the world. And oftentimes not successful, right, because you're talking about two of the, you know, the top scores in the league for the past, I don't know, 10 years or whatever it is, they've been elite at generating offense. But for me, Anaheim getting after them and going and playing them hard.

And I think the time and space is a big thing. With Peter Leveolette, last night, the Habs obviously went in overtime. Slavkovsky, three power play goals. And John Cooper was pretty honest after the game. He said effectively it wasn't being overly aggressive. It was being stupid. Like he called his team out that quickly into a series. how would you play the media game with your players,

especially early in a series? Well, I think he was just being honest at that point. Like, that was, I actually thought, you know, he said it on the bench right before, I think right before things imploded for him, that he really liked this game. Like, he liked the way the guys were playing, and he thought that, you know,

they had, I don't know, five shots or six shots on the board, and they were way past the halfway mark of the game. And so defensively, they were doing what they're doing. But in the playoffs for me, there's three things that can definitely, definitely make a difference in a game and a series, both. The first is goaltending. You guys talked about that. The goaltender can definitely make a different.

He can win a series or lose a series. That's unfair to say, but great goaltending can move you on. And if you play really well and you don't get those performances that you're looking for, your series could be over as well. secondly is team defense because you can't you know you can't rely on minnesota throwing up a six spot every night and so defense has to be there the last one is obvious right it's specialty team so one stay out of the box but two make sure your power play and your penalty kill are ready to roll because those three the power play and the power play and somebody goes 32% on the power play

and the opposition the team that they're playing against they go six percent there's a pretty good chance that that team at 32% is moving on. Have you ever seen anyone on the power play? And I know there's been dry sidel McDavid, but I don't think there's been anyone in a long time as good on the power play as Kutrov is. Like the way he just moves it around. And I know you love a guy that will just take the ice and take the shot.

He does that. He does it all and he's so good at it. I haven't seen anyone that good in a long time. Sometimes for me, like I get a. better, I live in Tampa, you know, so I'm watching my kids who's just bugging me to call them up and get some tickets to the game tomorrow. So I was able to scrape up four from my son and his date and another couple, so they're going up there.

But they're only, you know, they're only 45 minutes. I watch a lot of Tampa and I watch a lot of Kucharoff. And he's, it's unbelievable the consistency in which he plays the game offensively, right? sometimes you get a real appreciation and a real feel for that when you coach somebody who's like that. Probably the closest player that I've worked with that has that type ability, sorry, that capability,

that type of game to make a difference on the drop of a dime, and that's Panarin. And so our Tammy's been a, he's kind of the same player, put the puck on his stick, You saw him score last night, and they all do it a little bit differently. I think that, you know, Artemmy does it more with his shot and attack an open ice,

and he's real shifty east-west. I think Kuturoff has a big shot. I think he attacks open ice, and I think he sees the plays really well. And so he kind of a triple threat in the position that he plays in. And really, really tough to stop when you get guys like that. but the closest that I got to work with was a guy like Panarin, but certainly Kucharov has been elite for years at doing that. Yeah, crazy good.

And they're going to need a response tomorrow night. We've got four games in the Stanley Cup playoffs tonight. As you've been saying, you'll be watching them, you'll be all over them, and we'll have to do this again real soon. We really appreciate you doing this, and we'll chat down the road. Thank you, Peter. All right, guys, looking forward to it. Take care.

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