The Washington Capitals are unlikely to make the playoffs with three games left in their 2025-26 season. It would mark their first miss under head coach Spencer Carbery, after sneaking in as the final team in 2023-24 and finishing atop the Eastern Conference in 2024-25.
Despite the disappointing season, the organization’s faith in Carbery hasn’t wavered. General manager Chris Patrick recently told The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun that he still has full confidence in his head coach.
“He’s 100 percent our coach now and in the future,” Patrick told LeBrun. “I just think he’s the total package. He’s come in and shown as a first-time coach in the NHL that he can get the respect of veteran guys and get them to play the system he wants them to play, and he’s shown he can develop young players, too.
“As long as we can have him, we will.”
The Capitals currently sit sixth in the Metropolitan Division and 12th in the Eastern Conference. They are three points out of a playoff spot and have played one more game than both teams they are chasing, the Philadelphia Flyers and the Ottawa Senators.
In his three seasons with the Capitals, Carbery has amassed a 131-83-29 record. Among all Capitals coaches, he ranks fourth in points percentage (.599), behind just Barry Trotz (.677), Bruce Boudreau (.672), and Todd Reirden (.642). Carbery’s done this despite the team retooling and rebuilding on the fly as Alex Ovechkin entered the twilight of his career.
Spencer Carbery’s three seasons with the Capitals (5v5 analytics)
| Season | Record | CF% | xGF% | SCF% | HDCF% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-24 | 40-31-11 | 46.2 | 46.9 | 48.0 | 48.1 |
| 2024-25 | 51-22-9 | 51.0 | 51.4 | 52.5 | 52.6 |
| 2025-26 | 40-30-9* | 49.5 | 50.5 | 49.9 | 50.7 |
*Note: The Capitals still have three games remaining on their schedule this season
After Trotz’s departure in 2018, Carbery is also the lone coach to have led the team to a playoff series victory, last year’s five-game triumph over the Montreal Canadiens. Reirden and Peter Laviolette (.584) were both unsuccessful in two attempts, and Laviolette’s 2022-23 Capitals missed the postseason altogether.
Last offseason, Carbery became the fourth head coach in franchise history to win the Jack Adams Award as NHL Coach of the Year after he led the team to 50 wins for the first time since 2016-17. In doing so, he became the first to ever win Coach of the Year in the NHL, AHL, and ECHL — all three of North America’s top professional leagues.
Given Patrick’s comments, Carbery will likely remain behind the Capitals’ bench for the post-Alex Ovechkin era. The club’s legendary captain is undecided if he’ll continue his NHL career past this season.
