It didn’t take long for a blast of 1980s Broadway nostalgia to sweep over Peter Laviolette’s introductory press conference.
Perched behind an MSG Training Center lectern Tuesday, the new Rangers head coach acknowledged that he doesn’t think about his brief cameo as an NHL player often. He logged 12 games with the Blueshirts during the 1988-89 season, and that was it. Eleven years as a minor-league player and 25 years as a coach, he said, better reflect his career.
But Laviolette’s wife and kids tried to locate a No. 39 jersey — with his name printed across the back and “Rangers” diagonally across the front — on eBay when the Blueshirts hired him last week. They couldn’t find it. Laviolette joked his popularity must’ve been driving sales.
“They ribbed me a little bit about only playing 12 games, but I let them know that they couldn’t find the jersey not because I was here for just a minute,” Laviolette said. “It’s just that it was in such demand after being named head coach of the New York Rangers.”
