The Washington Capitals hired former Hershey Bears bench boss Spencer Carbery to be their new head coach in late May. The move was one that signaled the Caps would be moving towards a culture shift regarding the development of their younger players.

Perhaps one of the players most impacted by the hire is Caps prospect and 2019 first-round draft selection, Connor McMichael. McMichael was asked in Hershey this past week to describe his feelings about Carbery’s return to the organization.

“Right when the news came out it was exciting,” McMichael said. “Knowing Carbs from my first year here it couldn’t have happened to a better guy. He’s a really hard-working guy. I’m excited to hopefully get the chance to work with him again and have that understanding with each other, that familiarity. I’m excited.”

McMichael first ran into Carbery back in 2017 at Team Canada’s World Under-17 Development Camp, but it was his first pro season (2020-21) where Carbery left a true mark on the young forward.

With Carbery at the helm of the Bears, McMichael led the team in scoring with 27 points (14g, 13a) in 33 games. The then-19 year old earned AHL All-Rookie Team honors, becoming the first Hershey forward to do so in franchise history. That same season, he also led the league with eight game-winning goals and collected his first professional hat trick.

McMichael, who spent the beginning of the 2022-23 season on Peter Laviolette’s Capitals, ended up getting into just six NHL games after featuring in 68 games in his rookie campaign the year before. The Caps eventually sent him back to Hershey, where he is currently fighting for a Calder Cup championship.

He is one of many young leaders down in Hershey who will be looking to make a splash at the upcoming fall training camp and crack Carbery’s first NHL roster.

Carbery was asked during his introductory press conference to comment on what it will be like reconnecting with the 14 players in the Caps’ organization that he has prior history with, McMichael included.

“I’m excited to work with them again,” he said. “I’ve got great relationships with all those young players and I’m watching some of them play down in Hershey right now and try to compete for a Calder Cup. It puts a smile on my face because I’m really happy with where their journey and their development. Those relationships will help speed up the process of getting to know them and them understanding what I expect.

“It’s really important that we’re able to develop through the organization and hopefully create those tiers of where guys are able to come up and play for the Washington Capitals and contribute,” he added. “That was always what I did in Hershey. Them moving up and us developing players that can step into the lineup is critical.”

While Carbery does have that prior hands-on familiarity with younger players like McMichael, he’ll still need to balance aiding their development with meeting the needs of an older locker room that still wants to win. That’s a challenge he says he’ll take head on.

“You have young players that are hungry to prove that they’re capable NHL players and then you’ve got a group of veteran players ready to prove that we are still a very strong team in the NHL,” Carbery said. “Experiencing that in lower leagues, that’s the mixer. That’s what I’m trying to bring together and make sure that we compete at a real high level.”

Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB