Laviolette won't wait long

Peter Laviolette's time with the Hurricanes may have expired, but he shouldn't have to wait long for his next job.

His resume — playoff berths in his first full season with two long-struggling franchises as well as NHL and AHL titles — speaks for itself.

Here are a few places Laviolette could find himself working shortly:

Tampa Bay — Rick Tocchet is officially the interim coach of the Lightning after the (lamentably) short reign of Barry Melrose. Laviolette would be a good fit in Tampa, where the roster includes former Hurricanes forward Mark Recchi and players like Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis who would flourish in Laviolette's system. But Tampa owners Oren Koules and Len Barrie are so preposterously unpredictable, there's no telling what they'll do next. Could they make a move for Laviolette? Sure, but only the Shadow knows.

Edmonton — With Laviolette out in Carolina, Craig MacTavish may now have the hottest seat among NHL coaches. Bringing in Laviolette would be juicy — the coach that defeated the Oilers in 2006 — and a pretty good fit for an Edmonton roster full of young, talented forwards who aren't producing. It's hard to imagine Edmonton hiring an American coach, though. That's hard-core Canadian hockey country. If anyone's going behind the bench instead of MacTavish, it'd probably be team president Kevin Lowe.

Dallas — There have been a few rumors swirling around Dave Tippett, who is by general agreement an excellent coach. Expectations are high for the Stars, and if they fail to meet them, only so much of the blame can be assigned to Sean Avery. While it's unlikely Tippett would be fired — and like Laviolette, he'd land quickly on his feet — Laviolette would be a good fit with the Stars.

N.Y Rangers/Boston — Either of these would be a dream job for Laviolette, but both teams are playing reasonably well and it's hard to see the Rangers parting ways with Tom Renney or the Bruins with Claude Julien. But both of their situations just became a little more tenuous with Laviolette available.

Atlanta — John Anderson is only in his third month coaching the Thrashers, a miserable team playing like a miserable team, but it wouldn't be the first time Don Waddell fired a coach in an attempt to stave off his own dismissal. Waddell and Laviolette are closely linked through USA Hockey connections, and had the Hurricanes fired Laviolette this summer you can bet he'd be coaching Les Thrash right now.