Spencer Carbery, who elevated the Caps, is the NHL’s coach of the year
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Spencer Carbery thought he was sitting down for an interview with Monumental Sports Network to discuss the Washington Capitals’ season, reflecting on the accomplishments of his second year behind the bench and talking about what he learned. Instead, he was shown a video that featured many of his mentors, including Colorado Avalanche Coach Jared Bednar, offering their congratulations. They just didn’t say for what.
When Carbery turned around from the video, there was a man walking into the room with the Jack Adams Award, given annually to the coach who has “contributed the most to his team’s success” and voted on by the NHL Broadcasters’ Association. He is the first Capitals coach to win the award since Barry Trotz in 2016.
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The other finalists were the Montreal Canadiens’ Martin St. Louis and the Winnipeg Jets’ Scott Arniel.
“As a head coach, as a coach at any level in any league in the world, it’s the highest individual honor that you can receive,” Carbery told The Washington Post. “I know the No. 1 goal is always and always will be the Stanley Cup. That’s just the way that we’re wired. It is a team-first sport and you would trade this award for the Stanley Cup any day of the week.
“But when it comes to recognition of a coaching staff and a coach, it’s the highest honour. When you look at some of the names on that trophy, it’s pretty humbling. Just really, really grateful.”
Carbery, 43, is the first person to win the coach of the year award in the NHL, the American Hockey League and the ECHL. Both previous awards came when he was working for Capitals affiliates: He won in the AHL in 2021 while coaching the Hershey Bears and won in the ECHL in 2014 while coaching the South Carolina Stingrays.
“That brings it all sort of full-circle,” Carbery said. “I was saying this the other day, because someone asked me, ‘Did you ever dream of winning the Jack Adams Award?’ I said, ‘I didn’t even dream of coaching in the NHL.'”
Back when he was named Stingrays coach, Carbery said, his main focus was simple: “Jeez, I just hope I can do a really good job,” both for Robbie Concannon, the team president who hired him, and the team’s owners. He hoped to stay in South Carolina, he said, “for the next 20 years,” sticking with his team and raising a family.
“I never even thought, ‘NHL, what if I could move up to be this?'” Carbery said. “It was just like, ‘Can I please, please, please do an okay job in South Carolina to stay an ECHL head coach?'”
Carbery quickly fell in love with coaching when he became an assistant for the Stingrays in 2010. A year later, he was the head coach. In 2018, he became the coach of the Hershey Bears, then jumped up to the NHL as an assistant with the Toronto Maple Leafs before he was hired in Washington in 2023.
In his second year with the Capitals, Carbery led Washington to the top of the Eastern Conference with a 51-win regular season. The Capitals then beat the Canadiens in the first round for their first Stanley Cup playoff series win since 2018.
During the regular season, Carbery navigated captain Alex Ovechkin’s chase of Wayne Gretzky’s NHL goals record – and the six weeks he missed with a fractured bone in his leg – while overseeing the development of young players such as winger Aliaksei Protas and forward Connor McMichael, both of whom had the most productive seasons of their careers.
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“I was impressed this year with [Carbery’s] growth,” Capitals General Manager Chris Patrick told The Post. “Coaches are always evaluating, right? They’re in the business of evaluating their players and stuff, but I think he showed a really intelligent self-evaluation from his first year to his second year. … He showed really good growth, and that all comes from self-evaluation and self-reflection. Constantly striving to be like, ‘How can I be better? How can we be better as a staff? What else can we do to make this team get to the next level?'”
Center Pierre-Luc Dubois, whom Carbery called “arguably our most valuable player” at Washington’s season-ending media availability, stands out as a prime example of his influence. The Capitals traded for Dubois last summer, after an unsuccessful season with the Los Angeles Kings, and were the 26-year-old’s fourth team in five years.
In Washington, Dubois shook off his perception of being a malcontent and was a two-way force, playing the toughest defensive matchups while also turning in the best offensive season of his career (66 points in 82 games).
“From the first phone call when I got traded, through training camp and as the season went on, it was pretty clear what he wanted from me,” Dubois said. “We built that relationship of trust.”
When Carbery talks about the foundation of trust in his coaching style, the passion and intensity with which he approaches his job becomes clear. He speaks of hours and hours of work, of thoughtful collaboration, and of true belief in each other.
If a player knows Carbery is genuinely committed to their success – that “I want to see them succeed and I will do anything – anything,” he says – trust starts to build. From that trust comes honest conversations, and teamwork, and, hopefully, improvement.
“They know that everything I’m showing them, negative or positive, is coming from a place of, I want to see them succeed,” he said. “That, I think, is where it’s all rooted at. Teaching and coaching is building that trust so that when you get into the trenches, they know that you’ve got their back and they can trust you. Good or bad, if we’re playing well, if we’re not, they know it’s coming from a spot where they can trust me as the head coach.”
McMichael and Protas have known Carbery for years, dating from the coach’s time in Hershey, when they were just beginning their professional careers. Their long-running relationship with their coach shines through when they’re asked about the impact he has had on their development.
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“Carbs has been huge for my career,” McMichael said. “[He] really taught me what it was like to be a pro and how to conduct myself on and off the ice. Then when he came here, it was the same thing. I had that connection back in Hershey with him, so it was pretty easy to talk to him at the start. He really made me feel comfortable. He really believed in me. I think that was a huge thing as well. I could feel that confidence he had in me and that trust.”
Winger Anthony Beauvillier, who was traded to Washington in March, only played for Carbery for a couple of months. But it didn’t take long for Carbery to leave a strong impression on him, too.
“He’s got such a way of communicating with his players,” Beauvillier said. “Personally, I like feedback, and he was really good on that, just watching clips or talking, whether it’s a 30-second conversation or a five-minute meeting. He was really good, and I think a lot of guys appreciate that in the room.”
When Carbery started coaching, he didn’t know how much he’d love it. Fifteen years later, that love and passion earned him the award as the best coach in the NHL.
“I love this. I’m passionate about it,” he said. “I love going to the rink. I love waking up and can hardly sleep and want to get there. I want to dive into it. I love the competitiveness of it. It’s my passion. Sometimes, it’s super frustrating and I can get very emotional and down, but that’s all part of it. … I am so passionate about development and getting better and helping players and helping a team achieve their absolute max potential. That’s why I wake up in the morning.”
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