- The Wheeling Nailers hired Peter Laviolette III as an assistant coach on Aug. 11
- His father started coaching with the same ECHL club back in 1997
- Read below for what both Laviolettes said about the son’s first job behind a bench
Peter Laviolette got his first head coaching job in Wheeling, West Virginia in 1997. Twenty-nine years later, his son is starting in the same place.
The Wheeling Nailers named Peter Laviolette III an assistant coach on Aug. 11. It’s the first job behind a bench for the 28-year-old, who played four seasons as a forward in the ECHL and spent three of them in Wheeling, the town he was born in.
Laviolette III told Tom Gulitti of NHL.com that the fit felt obvious once the opening came up.
“I always wanted to be a coach at some capacity, but I never thought I’d make it. I didn’t know how it would play out. Now, I’m really excited to have this opportunity and start where my dad started and come back to Wheeling. I was born here. It just seems like a perfect spot.”
Dad has traveled a long way from the Nailers since then. Peter Laviolette took over as the Kings head coach on June 9, his seventh NHL stop after the Islanders, Hurricanes, Flyers, Predators, Capitals and Rangers.
He ranks seventh in league history with 846 wins, the most by any American-born coach, and he won the Stanley Cup with Carolina in 2006.
None of it was handed down. The elder Laviolette made a point of saying his son ran his own search, interviewing with six or seven teams before Wheeling called.
“He did all the work. He got his resume ready and he interviewed probably with six or seven teams and was fortunate enough to get offered an opportunity in Wheeling, and now he couldn’t be happier. And I’m proud of him for that.”
The Wheeling ties run deeper than the job. Mike Baker, one of the former Nailers owners who interviewed Laviolette for that 1997 opening, still lives in the area. Laviolette III looked him up after signing with the team and wound up meeting Baker’s daughter, Lindsey.
They married earlier this year and welcomed their first child, Leah, on July 19.
Nailers fans knew the son as a player who was happy to drop the gloves. Take a look at the one-punch knockdown he landed on a Bloomington player in March 2025:
Both were interviewing for jobs at the same time this summer, which turned into a lot of video sessions together.
“I’ve been studying with him all summer, going over his system, his mindset on the game,” Laviolette III said.
Wheeling, now the ECHL affiliate of the Blue Jackets, rounded out a staff under head coach Nate DiCasmirro and associate coach Jason Payne. His father sees a kid who grew up in rinks and never wanted to leave them.
“The acorn really doesn’t fall far from a tree, you know. He wants to be on the ice. He wants to make a difference in people’s lives on the ice and off the ice and I think it’s a really good first step for him.”
