Since Laviolette's hiring in December 2009, the Flyers have the third-most wins in the Eastern Conference. Since his first full season with the team, the Flyers are second in the Eastern Conference in standings points.
After guiding the 2009-2010 Flyers to the Stanley Cup Finals, Laviolette's squads have fallen in the second round of the playoffs the last two seasons.
"I was really excited to come to a market like Philadelphia and an organization like this, with the history, the ownership, and working for Paul," Laviolette said. "I'm as excited today as I was back then about being able to move forward.
"There's a great group of players here, and to come back and be able to continue to work here is where I want to be. Philadelphia is a big market, and I was really excited back then and I'm still really excited about that."
Laviolette and the Flyers nearly made one of the biggest offseason moves of the summer two weeks ago, when they signed star defenseman Shea Weber to a 14-year, $110 million offer sheet. The Predators matched the offer sheet and Weber remained in Nashville.
Now Laviolette is left with a defense full of holes and other question marks. Matt Carle is gone. First-year Flyer Luke Schenn is intriguing but unpolished and would have benefited greatly from having Weber as a teammate. Kimmo Timonen is 37 and coming off back surgery.
"I think when you look at a guy like Shea Weber, there are probably a lot of teams that wish they had a player of his caliber on their club," Laviolette said. "Our team moved forward without Shea last year. We dealt with certain injuries and things that I think our club had to overcome. We used a lot of good, young defensemen and a lot of good players. I am excited about the players that we brought into the fold this year."
The Flyers still haven't been able to fill the losses of Jaromir Jagr and James van Riemsdyk. It's not for a lack of effort, though.
Holmgren has extended offers to top players regardless of whether they were unrestricted or restricted free agents. But so far, every one of them has turned down Philadelphia - or, in the case of Weber, had the offer matched.
Rumors of a trade for Anaheim's Bobby Ryan have swirled for weeks. Forward Shane Doan is still a free agent. But the window to make a move is closing, and if the Flyers don't bring anyone in this team could be Laviolette's biggest challenge as the Flyers coach.
"I think it is going to be an exciting time to be building it back up from where we left off and adding the new players to the mix," Laviolette said. "I feel good about the players that we have under contract and moving forward."
Contact Chad Graff at cgraff@philly.com, and follow on Twitter @ChadGraff.
