Peter Laviolette Responds To Bullying Allegations During Time With Flyers.

It's been a tough couple of weeks for coaches in the NHL with accusations flying regarding coaching tactics and bullying. Now former Philadelphia Flyers coach Peter Laviolette is the latest to be mentioned. Former Flyers' forward Daniel Carcillo stated that he saw Laviolette used bad tactics which included forcing players to fight and also punching Ville Leino in the head. Laviolette wanted to address the situation immediately. "First was a suggestion by (Carcillo) that I used my position of power inside of a locker room to bully or ... challenge players to go out there and fight," Laviolette said. "That couldn't be further from the truth."
"In the scope of where we are right now, with regard to coaches, I can tell you that physical abuse for me is the furthest thing from the truth," Laviolette also addressed the Leino incident specifically. "That Ville Leino video clip and the GIF that shows me nicking his helmet and his helmet bobbing up and down over and over gets played back. You can interpret it a whole bunch of different ways."I had called a timeout. I was trying to get my team motivated and I went to punch my fist into my hand. I nicked the back of his helmet. By no means was it meant as any physical abuse nor have I ever had any physical abuse with a player. ... If people really thought I was punching somebody in the back of the head, then that would have come forward a long time ago."