The next head coach of the Washington Capitals will reportedly be Spencer Carbery.
This news comes from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman and The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir. After Friedman said that the Capitals were “closing in” on Carbery, El-Bashir added on Twitter that the Capitals are “planning to hire” him.
Carbery, 41, spent three seasons coaching the Hershey Bears before moving on to become an assistant coach with the Toronto Maple Leafs during the 2021-22 season. He’s only four years older than the captain of the Capitals, Alex Ovechkin.
This will not come as a huge surprise to many, but hearing Washington is closing in on Spencer Carbery as its next head coach.
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) May 30, 2023
The #Caps are planning to hire Spencer Carbery as their next head coach, according to a league source and as @FriedgeHNIC mentioned.
— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) May 30, 2023
According to El-Bashir, Carbery is getting a four-year deal from the Caps, which will take him one season past Alex Ovechkin’s likely final year in the league in 2025-26.
Hearing four years for Carbery. #Caps https://t.co/vhg8KGNIC8
— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) May 30, 2023
Carbery led the Bears to the Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy as the AHL’s best team during the 2020-21 regular season and won the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award for Coach of the Year that same season.
“Spencer is a talented, young head coach and his track record of winning at the professional level, while also developing players, makes him the ideal coach for our top prospects,” Capitals GM Brian MacLellan said at the time.
Carbery, who appeared to be the Capitals’ coach in waiting, left the organization during the 2021 offseason to join the Maple Leafs after initially signing a multi-year extension to remain head coach of the Hershey Bears. In Toronto, Carbery led the Leafs’ power play as an assistant coach under Sheldon Keefe. The Leafs’ power play unit ranked second-best in effectiveness during the 2022-23 regular season, behind only the Edmonton Oilers.
Once the Leafs were eliminated by the Florida Panthers in the second round of the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs, Carbery was reportedly interviewed by the New York Rangers and Anaheim Ducks – and perhaps other clubs.
Under Carbery, Hershey posted a combined record of 104-50-9-8 (.658 point percentage), including an AHL-best 24-7-2-0 record (.758 point percentage) in his final season behind the Bears’ bench in 2020-21. Under his tutelage, Connor McMichael led the team in both goals (14) and points (27) as a rookie during that pandemic-shortened season.
Carbery immediately jumped into the coaching ranks when his playing career ended with the ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays, serving first as an assistant coach during the 2010-11 season. Carbery was promoted to head coach and director of hockey operations the next year and served under those dual roles through 2016, earning the John Brophy Award as ECHL Coach of the Year during the 2013-14 season. Carbery spent one season as head coach of the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit (2016-17) and another as an assistant coach with the AHL’s Providence Bruins (2017-18) before returning back to the Capitals organization as the bench boss of the Bears in 2018-19.
Update 11:30 am: It’s official. The Capitals have announced Carbery’s hiring.
Headline photo: JustSports Photography
