No stormy skies ahead for Laviolette

Canes general manager Jim Rutherford says there is no pressure on coach

RALEIGH -- With the Carolina Hurricanes fast approaching a new hockey season, general manager Jim Rutherford has given some assurances to coach Peter Laviolette.

In short, Laviolette's job will not hang in the balance from game to game nor will the coach be given a short leash by management.

"I don't want to enter the season with anybody being under the gun," Rutherford said. "It's not fair for someone to go into a season under that kind of pressure."

But much will be expected this season -- from the Hurricanes' players, from Laviolette. After the team's scintillating Stanley Cup run in 2006, the Canes failed to make the playoffs the last two seasons, costing the franchise millions of dollars and frustrating everyone associated with it.

Laviolette, who coached the Canes to the Cup, said he was crushed at the end of last season, after a bitter 4-3 loss at home to the Florida Panthers in the final regular-season game that cost the Canes a playoff berth.

One of the coach's duties is to conduct exit meetings with each player the day after the last game, before they pack up and scatter. Talk about offseason conditioning, talk about the next season.

Laviolette didn't do it. He said he couldn't bring himself to do it.

"I was not ready to talk about next season," he said. "I was not ready to move forward. I had a very difficult time doing it.

"I was not planning on not being in the playoffs, so therefore I didn't have a plan to sit down and have a meeting about, 'What you can do to be better next year?' I was not in that mode. I was in playoff mode.

"Was it a mistake or not? You can't bring someone in and then B.S. them. They can see it. I wasn't going to waste my time or theirs. I was not prepared to give an exit meeting."

The Canes had followed up a terrific training camp with a strong start, leading the Southeast Division all but two weeks of the season. But a slew of injuries and illness -- and some inconsistent, unfocused play, Rutherford said -- resulted in a slide in November and December that was costly in the end.

Needing only to split the last four games to make the playoffs, the Canes could win just once.

"We blew it," Rutherford said bluntly.

Laviolette's decision not to have the exit meetings disappointed Rutherford. To the GM, it unquestionably was a mistake.

"It's part of our job," Rutherford said. "When we're in the position of managers and coaches, there are things we have to do we don't like to do.

"I did exit meetings. They were hard on the heels of losing that last game, and it was something I would have expected Peter to do."

Was Rutherford angry at Laviolette?

"Not angry, but I felt he should have done it," Rutherford said. "I was just as disappointed as anyone, and I had my exit meetings with every player. Those meetings, to me, are very productive.

"It wasn't enjoyable, but it shouldn't have been enjoyable. But at the same time we have to continue our jobs and prepare for next year."

Both Rutherford and Laviolette said the omission was not a factor in the bit of drama that unfolded soon after the season, when Rutherford said Laviolette's job would be under review, noting he was "digesting information" and considering changes.

Might Laviolette, with three years left on his contract, be fired? For nearly a month, Canes fans were left to guess.

In early May, team owner Peter Karmanos came to Raleigh to meet with Rutherford and Laviolette. A coaching change was made but did not affect Laviolette's status -- Albany River Rats coach Tom Rowe was brought in as a new assistant, replacing Jeff Daniels, who in turn took over as head coach of the team's American Hockey League affiliate.

Of his job review, Laviolette said, "I don't think it was because I didn't have exit interviews. That certainly never came up in any of my meetings with Jim and Pete [Karmanos].

"I think it was based more on the team at times not playing to its potential and not making the playoffs. I think at that time everything comes under review."

Canes captain Rod Brind'Amour said exit meetings can be useful but weren't necessary.

"Not really," he said. "Exit meetings, nobody remembers them when you come back now.

"From Lavi's point of view, I think he was very frustrated. But his door is always open. Having [meetings] is kind of overrated because we're talking to him every day in the season."

Rutherford said he has lost no faith in Laviolette, noting, "When Peter is focused he's a very, very good coach." And Laviolette said he has a good relationship with Rutherford, personally and professionally.

"Always has been," Laviolette said. "I mean, what goes on is part of pro sports, a part of the business. My working relationship with Jim has always been good but business is business.

"We need to win hockey games. I know that. That's my job."