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Lavy to stick with just two assistants in Nashville

Peter Laviolette

Philadelphia Flyers coach Peter Laviolette stands behind his bench during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Pittsburgh, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011. The Flyers won 4-2. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

AP

In 2006, Peter Laviolette led Carolina to the Stanley Cup employing a pair of assistant coaches -- Kevin McCarthy and Jeff Daniels.

This season, he’s hoping to do much of the same in Nashville.

The Preds won’t add a third assistant to Laviolette’s staff for this season, according to The Tennessean. Instead, Laviolette will work alongside McCarthy and Phil Housley, passing on finding a replacement for Lane Lambert, who left the Preds organization to join Barry Trotz in Washington this past June.

“Peter is fine with where we are,” Preds GM David Poile said. “The Lane situation, with him going to Washington seems to be a really good fit. Peter seems to be comfortable with Kevin McCarthy, who he has worked with in other locations, and Phil.”

Though hardly revolutionary, it is interesting that Laviolette will go with just two assistants this year. He routinely had three on his staff in Philly (McCarthy, Joe Mullen and Craig Berube most notably) and the trend seems to be that coaching and front office staffs are getting bigger, not smaller.