Peter Laviolette’s former Islanders team in favor of Rangers candidacy

For whatever reason, there is an undercurrent of resignation to Peter Laviolette’s inclusion in the discussion of who will be the Rangers’ next coach, as if he is there by dint of his availability on the job market instead of due to his accomplishments over two decades as an NHL coach.

Maybe that is to be expected after the Capitals mutually parted ways with Laviolette following a 35-37-10 record this past season, which put an end to a playoff streak that had begun in 2015 and marked just the second time since 2007 that the tournament was conducted without Washington.

The body of work for Laviolette, though, includes a Stanley Cup championship with the 2006 Hurricanes and appearances in the Cup final with the 2010 Flyers and 2017 Predators.

There is a reason he has never spent an entire season out of work since his playing career ended in 1997, when he hopped from playing with the AHL’s Providence Bruins to coaching the ECHL’s Wheeling Nailers.

Laviolette got behind an NHL bench within three seasons, as an assistant with the Bruins, then quickly ascended to head coach of the Islanders.

“I don’t know why he wouldn’t be a strong candidate,” Mike Milbury, the general manager who first hired Laviolette on Long Island, told The Post by phone Friday. “I know sometimes people want to shake it up with a radical approach and hire younger guys, college guys, but if you want an experienced guy who knows how to handle the bench and knows how to handle the locker room — key elements of being a successful coach — I think he’d be a strong candidate for any openings that are existing in the league today.”

As a young, first-year head coach with the Islanders in 2001-02, Laviolette quickly endeared himself to his players and staff by taking time to build relationships away from the team.

When the Islanders held a Halloween party, Laviolette asked if the coaches and their wives could join.

“[Some] staffs I’ve played for, that never would’ve been asked. I was kind of surprised,” Michael Peca, the Islanders’ captain that season, told The Post. “We thought it was gonna be a great idea. He’s like that to this day. He really engages on the personal side with the athletes and their families. I think that’s why he’s created such incredible work environments.”

It also translated to results, as the team rose from last place in the NHL in 2000-01 to a playoff berth in Laviolette’s first season.

Shawn Bates’ penalty shot provided the lasting memory in a first-round series the Islanders ultimately lost to Toronto in seven games.

“His teams are definitely prepared,” said Peca, who worked with Laviolette during the 2020-21 season as a Capitals developmental coach. “I like the day to day, the way they handle things, there’s a lot of teaching. … His teams always have a group of guys that want to play for each other and will go to war for each other.”

If Laviolette joins the other side of the Battle of New York, 20 years after he last coached the Islanders, he won’t be joining an upstart, but walking into a crucible.

Gerard Gallant’s record of 110 and 107 regular-season points in his first two seasons was deemed not good enough following a first-round playoff loss to the Devils, and a dressing room filled with star power will need more than Halloween costumes to reach the ultimate goal of ending a 30-year Cup drought.

“I think he knows how to communicate with those guys that are in the limelight,” Milbury said. “You gotta circle the wagons with the big guys first and foremost and make sure they’re on the same page with you. He’d have no trouble doing that. He’s had stars before, he’s had a championship team before.

“With the experience that he’s gained, this is not the Peter Laviolette that I hired. This is a guy that’s battle-tested himself and anybody who’s taking that job in Manhattan better be ready for the kind of scrutiny that comes with being that coach. Certainly with his level of experience, I don’t think he’d have any trouble handling it.”