Peter Laviolette has been fired.

We already have our second coaching firing of the day.

Earlier today we witnessed the first post-regular season firing of the year and unfortunately for New York Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette he is now the second man to be on the receiving end of some rather unfortunate news. In an official press release, the Rangers announced that they would be relieving Laviolette of his head coaching duties and also terminating assistant coach Phil Housley as well.

The official release was accompanied by the following statement from Rangers general manager Chris Drury:

Today I informed Peter Laviolette and Phil Housley that we’re making a coaching change. I want to thank them both and wish them and their families all the best going forward. Peter is first class all the way, both professionally and personally, and I am truly grateful for his passion and dedication to the Rangers in his time as head coach.

After finishing with the best regular season record in the NHL a year ago and making a trip to the Eastern Conference Final, we came into this season with high expectations for ourselves. Quite simply, we failed to meet those expectations. We must all do better – myself included. As we head into next season and beyond, I felt that a change was necessary in order to give us the best chance to achieve our goals as an organization. Our search for a new head coach will begin immediately.

Although it is typical for a National Hockey League general manager to be the one to announce a coaching change, it seems especially fitting in this particular scenario. While Laviolette has been on the receiving end of a great deal of criticism from the Rangers fan base this season, most of the anger has seemingly been directed at Chris Drury himself. Drury is believed to have alienated the Rangers locker room with some of the moves that were made over the last year, including the now infamous decision to put Barclay Goodrow on waivers.

There were reports throughout the season that high profile players like Rangers captain Jacob Trouba and long time forward Chris Kreider could potentially be traded, with a trade that sent Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks eventually coming to pass, decisions by Drury that some believe did far more to hurt the Rangers this season than anything that came from Laviolette.

Laviolette has one of the most impressive coaching resumes in the NHL with over two decades of experience as a head coach in the league, as well as a Stanley Cup championship for his time with the Carolina Hurricanes, and I suspect that it won't be long before we hear his name mentioned in connection to coaching vacancies around the NHL this summer.