Washington Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery gave insight into one of his personal coaching beliefs on Saturday. The young bench boss, full of new ideas and energy, says he is, however, a traditionalist when it comes to one aspect of the game.
Carbery prefers his defensemen play on the side of the ice that directly correlates with their handedness. So, a right-handed player plays exclusively on the right of a pairing and a left-handed player plays exclusively on the left.
“I am a traditionalist when it comes to that,” Carbery said. “I just prefer lefty-righty. Moreso on the backend [than with forwards]. I find your O-zone touches and your regroup touches, when you’re playing lefty-righty, [are] a lot more seamless.”
In camp, as things currently stand, the Caps have six left-handed defensemen and four right-handed defensemen left in the mix for NHL roster spots. Given Joel Edmundson’s injury, that number on the left side has come down to five for the time being.
Carbery’s take on the handedness debate may mean that left-handed names like Alex Alexeyev, Hardy Haman Aktell, and Lucas Johansen have more of an inside lane to filling Edmundson’s spot than someone like Vincent Iorio who is right handed. But, Carbery did add that there are some players, like the Caps’ Trevor van Riemsdyk, that he doesn’t mind seeing play on their off-side.
In theory, TvR’s ability to play both sides keeps Iorio in the conversation to potentially play on Opening Night.
“There are unique players that I’ve seen in the past that are really, really good on their off-side and you don’t notice those awkward touches,” Carbery said. “Where you get really jammed up is at the offensive blueline, like if you get a rim and now you have to catch it [on your backhand and get it to your forehand]. There are some guys that are really, really good at that but most players it’s challenging. So, my philosophy as a head, lefty-righty whenever possible.”
So far TvR has gotten into one preseason game under Carbery and did line up on his natural right side next to Alexeyev. The announced roster for Saturday night’s game in Detroit indicates that he will once again be on the right.
Carbery added that while he is more stringent in his beliefs when it comes to his defenders, he holds some of the same principles regarding wingers as well.
“Wings, I believe in that too,” Carbery said. “Now, there’s extreme circumstances like one we have where they’re able to do some incredible things having their stick to the inside attacking. But with other players, I notice it a lot when trying to break a puck out, being on your off side you’re always facing your net. Is that the end of the world? [No]. Long winded way of saying I feel more strongly about defensemen than wingers, but ideally both for me.”
The extreme circumstance Carbery refers to is Caps captain Alex Ovechkin playing on the left despite his natural right handedness. Ovechkin famously was moved to the right wing under former head coach Adam Oates and due to that was hilariously voted to two separate positions on the end-of-season NHL All-Star teams because of how unfamiliar the hockey world was with a right-sided Ovechkin.
Caps prospect Ivan Miroshnichenko has the same quirk to his game. A naturally right-handed shot, Miroshnichenko has almost exclusively played on the left side in his junior career. Carbery had the youngster play on the right wing on Ovechkin’s line during Thursday’s preseason win over the Red Wings and didn’t look out of place, registering two assists.
If Miroshnichenko were to make the Caps out of camp, as unlikely as that may be, Carbery would be faced with that dilemma of comfortability versus tradition.
Headline photo: Katie Adler/RMNB
