Former Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette named as potential replacement for Metro Division team

Peter Laviolette was unceremoniously fired as soon as the NHL regular season ended for the Rangers. A 39-36-7 finish, good enough for 5th in the Metropolitan Division, wasn't good enough to save Laviolette's job in New York, only a year after winning the Presidents' Trophy.

But get ready, the NHL coaching carousel is the ride that never ends for some ex-head coaches. We've seen John Tortorella make the trip plenty of times and still manage to land new gigs despite past controversies and failures.

Now, it's Peter Laviolette's turn, as he has been linked to the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Penguins fired former two-time Stanley Cup winning Head Coach Mike Sullivan today, after a ten year run with the team.

While it's difficult to tell Kyle Dubas' angle here, he could do a lot worse than Laviolette, considering Tortorella's recent fumble of a rebuild in Philadelphia.

Laviolette won one Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006 and has an impressive winning record as a head coach, with 846 wins (7th all-time).

He could turn the team quickly around with his disciplined style of coaching. But like Tortorella, he too has a short shelf life.

Laviolette has connections to the Penguins through his son Peter Laviolette III, who plays for the ECHL's Wheeling Nailers, a Penguins affiliate.

Laviolette's firing seemed to be the domino which has caused others to fall in the NHL with Mike Sullivan's firing soon after.