Laviolette played nine seasons for the Montreal Canadiens hockey club and was their first captain, coach, and general manager.

With the formation of the National Hockey Association (NHA) in December 1909, (replaced 7 years later by the NHL), team/league owner Ambrose O'Brien asked Laviolette to put together a team made up of French Canadian players to play as the "Les Canadiens" franchise in Montreal.

He then starred for the new Montreal Canadiens franchise from 1910 until 1918, both in the NHA and the NHL, scoring 51 goals in 156 games, and winning the Stanley Cup in 1916.

Primarily a defenceman position wise, Laviolette was renowned for his strong skating and his marvelous speed, which helped dub the Montreal Canadiens team The Flying Frenchmen.

On the other hand, despite Laviolette having solid goal-scoring upside both as a defenceman and as a forward, Patrick also claimed that Laviolette "lacked a sense of direction" to his game, which he claimed hindered him from reaching the superstar status of his fellow Montreal teammates Didier Pitre and Newsy Lalonde.