Laviolette being rewarded for winning ways - on, off the ice

CHEWING GUM in hand, during a timeout in last year's Stanley Cup playoffs in Boston, Peter Laviolette stirred his team with an expletive-laden tirade that probably would have made the old women in the second row blush.

In his public persona, as the bench boss of the top team in the NHL, Laviolette is serious, intense and intimidating.

That's not the person former Flyer Rod Brind'Amour remembers, after serving as Laviolette's captain of the Stanley Cup-winning Carolina Hurricanes in 2006.

Laviolette returned to Raleigh, N.C., yesterday as one of the co-coaches for this weekend's All-Star Game.

"What stands out for me," Brind'Amour said in a phone interview this week, "is that he made everyone care for one another. When you get close to the end, close to winning the Cup, it's the little things that make the difference. It's about a whole team concept. You want to play hard for the people you care about. He made our team a tight-knit unit. It wasn't about one guy.

"He knows his stuff. But when you get to the NHL, every coach knows the X's and O's. His specialty is relating to players."

There is a public façade to Laviolette that the media know. And then there is the funny, caring and successful man his team knows.

When Jody Shelley signed with the Flyers as a free agent last July, he wasn't exactly sure what to expect from his third coach in two seasons. Having played in Columbus for former Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock, who is known for his dictatorial style of coaching, Shelley said he is most impressed with Laviolette's ability to navigate his role as both an authoritative and father-type figure.

"He has a good relationship with us," Shelley said. "He's funny and he's serious. He knows how to mix that. He understands the game. But I think he also understands what we're going through at different points during the season."

Those relationships - and the deepest roster in the league - are what have Laviolette back in Raleigh. Even with Vancouver's victory on Wednesday night to close out the first half's schedule, the Flyers own the tiebreaker with the Canucks for the top spot in the NHL.

Laviolette, 46, said it took time for those relationships to develop last season, after his team was rocked by the firing of a popular coach in John Stevens.

"There's a lot that comes with building relationships over time," Laviolette said. "It doesn't necessarily have to be a friendship, but it's a relationship. I certainly didn't have that when I was dropped in here on Dec. 4 [2009], and I didn't even know how to get to the rink. They didn't know about me, and I didn't know about them.

"Time has gone by. There's an awful lot of time spent [together]. They've got to listen to me, and I've got to listen to them. There's a lot of hours spent on that."

Brind'Amour said he wasn't the least bit surprised when Laviolette started to work his magic on the Flyers after being hired in December 2009.

"They're a great team," Brind'Amour said. "Just look at their lineup. You knew something wasn't right, and it was only a matter of time."

Those hours - added up to days, months and eventually years - have paid off. The Flyers' run in the Stanley Cup finals fell short, but their record in the first half is a testament to their consistency - an integral part of a team that had been lacking over the past few years. The Flyers need only 17 points over the last 32 games to match last season's total. They also have a five-point edge on Pittsburgh for first place in the Atlantic Division.

"There's still a lot of work to be done," Laviolette said, the first to acknowledge that glaring fact. "To this point, there has been some consistency. But I know that I wouldn't be going to this event if it wasn't for what these guys have accomplished."

His players say Laviolette is the best motivator they've ever played under. His pregame speeches - fiery, personal and insightful - have been called a "work of art," also "hard hitting" and "legendary."

"He gets the most out of us with his intensity and passion for the game," Danny Briere said. "Every single game, he's fired up and ready to go. On top of being a really good coach, system-wise and during a game on the bench, he's a really good motivator. That's how he gets the best out of his players on a nightly basis, which is a tough thing to do when you play so many games. 'Lavi' always finds a new way to go and get to us to get us fired up."

Shelley said Laviolette uses a mix of long-term planning and short-term fire - with rewards - to keep the approach different on a nightly basis. No matter how high or how low, Laviolette demands attention.

"He's a very good speaker," Shelley said. "He's focused on all the situations and makes sure we're focused, either the day before or the day of [a game]. He keeps us all in check. It's easy to float above, when you see how well we've done. He keeps us very level, very focused."

Laviolette is known for his 10-game outlooks, which set a certain number of points he wants his team to earn. If the goal isn't met, players answer for it in practice. Including the playoffs, Laviolette has racked up a 75-45-10 record in a little more than a year in Philadelphia.

"He keeps it really fresh," Shelley said. "Whether it's certain goals or certain rewards, if we beat a certain team, he keeps us motivated. That's a huge part of it."

And then Shelley said something you seldom hear any professional player say about a coach.

"He's our leader," Shelley said. "He's carrying our team right now."

Shelley even shook his own head in disbelief.

"I never thought I'd say that," Shelley acknowledged. "But it's true."

In professional sports, coaches are hired to be fired. You can't get rid of an entire group of millionaires, and you might not be able to get rid of the cancer in the locker room, so it's easier to remove the coach. That's why Laviolette maintains a "home base" in Longboat Key, Fla., because he knows his life span isn't particularly long in any city. That's what happened in Raleigh.

His relationship with owner Peter Karmanos soured and, with a 12-11-2 record, Laviolette was canned in the 2007-08 season, not even 18 months removed from a Stanley Cup victory. Isn't winning a championship supposed to garner job security?

On a road trip to Raleigh in November, Laviolette couldn't hide his love for the city, where he said he "loved" living with its small-town, Southern feel. It is where his children, Peter, Jack and Elisabeth, grew up.

To hear Brind'Amour describe this weekend, complete with outdoor festivals, Raleigh is opening itself up to the hockey world - the same way Hurricanes fans opened themselves up to Laviolette, the same way Laviolette opened himself up to his players in Philadelphia.

"This is the first time Raleigh is hosting an event like this," said Brind'Amour, who is the Hurricanes' director of forwards development. "Everyone here is excited. It's a great event for this town; it's a unique event and we're a one-pro-sport town. We're going to do it right."

By most accounts, Laviolette's firing was a raw deal in Raleigh. More than 3 years removed, Laviolette publicly harbors no ill will. And having never been to an All-Star Game, Laviolette has refused to say this weekend is anything more than a relaxing trip with his family. To say anything else would go against his public guise.

Brind'Amour knows him better than that.

"Knowing him, doing this in Carolina, of all places, it can't get any better," Brind'Amour said. "It's human nature, and the nature of this business sometimes. In a lot of ways, he is still the toast of the town for what he accomplished here. People don't forget that. I know he is going to stand on that bench on Sunday, look around, and be proud."

For more news and analysis, read Frank Seravalli's blog, Frequent Flyers, at

http://go.philly.com/frequentflyers. Follow him on Twitter at

http://twitter.com/DNFlyers.