The real Stanley Cup history that could await Peter Laviolette as Rangers coach

There’s this narrative that has bounced back and forth on social media that Scotty Bowman is the only coach in NHL history to have won the Stanley Cup with multiple teams.

As with so much that is taken for fact on the internet, this is fiction.

If Peter Laviolette is hired by the Rangers, he would be aiming at becoming the fourth coach — not the second — to win the Stanley Cup with more than one team.

The second in 70 years, but the fourth overall.

History did not begin when you (or even I) were born.

Bowman is the only bench boss to sip from the chalice with three teams, having won with Detroit in 1997, 1998 and 2002 after winning with Pittsburgh in 1992 and Montreal in 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1979.

Before him, though, Dick Irvin coached the Maple Leafs to the 1932 Cup before winning the title in 1944, 1946 and 1953 with the Canadiens.

With his three titles in Detroit, Scotty Bowman (celebrating in 2002 with Brett Hull) became the first coach in NHL history to win a Stanley Cup with three different franchises.Getty Images/NHLI

And before that, Tommy Gorman was behind the bench for the 1934 champion Black Hawks before guiding the Montreal Maroons to the Cup the very next season, making him the only coach in NHL history to win the Cup with different teams in consecutive seasons.

The Maroons played three more seasons before joining a list of storied, defunct franchises that includes the likes of the Brooklyn/New York Americans, the Hamilton Tigers, the Philadelphia Quakers, the Montreal Wanderers and the St. Louis Eagles.

There have been a total of 51 coaches to win the Cup. Twenty-four did not coach another team. Twenty-four failed to win the Cup again when hired by a sum of 43 organizations.

Since Bowman stepped down on the night he donned his skates and did a lap with the Cup at Joe Louis after breaking Montreal’s Toe Blake’s record with his ninth Cup as a coach following the 2002 victory over the ‘Canes, 14 Cup-winning coaches have been hired by 28 different teams.

John Tortorella is on his fourth team since winning with Tampa Bay in 2004. Ken Hitchcock coached five teams in the aftermath of winning with Dallas in 1999. Marc Crawford worked for four teams after winning with Colorado in 1996.

Peter Laviolette has led the Flyers, Predators and Capitals to the playoffs, but has not again reached the Finals since parting with the Hurricanes, with whom he celebrated winning the trophy in 2006.Getty Images

And Laviolette has worked with Philadelphia, Nashville and Washington after taking Carolina to the 2006 crown.

No. 1 and done?

Once the Rangers hire a coach, attention will turn to personnel matters.

And Alexis Lafreniere will be among the most prominent persons of interest as general manager Chris Drury and the team’s hierarchy plot the club’s course through a challenging salary-cap maze.

Multiple players own no-move clauses in their contracts, and No. 13 and K’Andre Miller are restricted free agents.

There is credence to reports the Canucks have interest in acquiring Lafreniere, but this was first forecast when Vancouver hired Lafreniere’s initial agent, Emilie Castonguay, to become assistant general manager in January 2022.

Even if the hierarchy would ponder moving the 2020 No. 1 selection after only three seasons, there is no obvious trade match with the Canucks unless you think Vancouver would part with the 11th-overall pick in this year’s draft and cover 50 percent of the remaining two years on 26-year-old right winger Brock Boeser’s contract, which has a cap hit of $6.65 million per.

If the Rangers would entertain dealing Lafreniere, they’d almost certainly rather obtain a young player on an affordable, controllable contract who would be able to contribute immediately. Boeser and a prime first-rounder might be acceptable.

Brock Boeser, who had 55 points last season with the Canucks, might be the type of young, reasonably priced player the Rangers would want back as part of an Alexis Lafreniere trade.Getty Images

There is no realistic trade scenario that would appeal to Rangers fans. Lafreniere has recorded 91 points (47-44) in 216 games in three seasons for the Blueshirts.

There are only two No. 1 picks to have been traded so early in their respective NHL careers. The Caps traded defenseman Greg Joly, first overall in 1974, to Detroit for 31-year-old journeyman winger Bryan Watson after two years and 98 games (9-24).

And the Blues traded 2006’s first overall, Erik Johnson, to Colorado after two-plus seasons, 203 games (20-71) and a conflict with the front office in a major deal that featured Kevin Shattenkirk going the other way.

(Eric Lindros, taken by Quebec at the top of the 1991 draft, and Bryan Berard, first overall by Ottawa in 1995, were both traded because of contractual and cultural issues before playing a game in the league.)

The comp pick pickle

There has been some rumination as to whether Lafreniere might be susceptible to a Group II offer sheet that the cap-stressed Rangers would be unable, or unwilling, to match.

The Blueshirts likely would match anything in the $3 million-$4 million range, if even it’s deemed a little rich for their tastes. The potential return of a 2024 second-rounder as compensation for a deal with an annual average value between $2,145,062 and $4,290,125 surely would not dissuade the Rangers front office from digging a bit deeper than it would like.

With a number of draft picks already on the move from prior transactions, a lot of teams will find it out of reach to cobble together the proper compensation for a Lafreniere offer sheet.Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Compensation for a contract carrying an annual cap hit of between $4,290,126 and $6,435,186, though, is a 2024 first-rounder and third-rounder. The Rangers likely would accept that in lieu of matching that type of cap-busting deal if we’re looking at giving the winger upwards of $4.5M per.

But, A) Is there a team out there that would be willing to go long-term at this price?

And, B) If the deal is not worth, say, at least $6M per, would Lafreniere want to lock himself in at around $5M per for six or seven years?

A bridge deal in which Lafreniere could build his equity playing for a different coach would seem like the most likely option, but let’s go one step further.

Teams must own the required draft pick(s) in 2024 to be able to make a bid.

There are 10 teams that do not have their own 2024 second-rounder, and would be eliminated at that compensation range (a deal between $2,145,062-$4,290,125): Boston, Colorado, Florida, Montreal, Philadelphia, Tampa Bay, Toronto, Vancouver, Washington and Winnipeg.

And there are 11 opposing teams that do not have their own 2024 third-rounders, and thus would be ineligible to come in with an offer sheet for Lafreniere at that (higher) range: Boston, Colorado, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Minnesota, the Islanders, Ottawa, Pittsburgh, San Jose, Toronto and Vegas.

So, chances of an offer slim seem slim.

So, within any historical context, does a trade.