WASHINGTON — The Washington Capitals introduced Spencer Carbery as the 20th head coach in Capitals franchise history Thursday.
This is Carbery's first stint as a head coach in the National Hockey League, and he's currently the youngest acting head coach at 41 years old. It's something he wasn't aware of until he arrived in Washington D.C.
"I actually didn't know that until this morning, and it's been a crazy ride," said Carbery. He received a huge welcome from Capitals staff and fans outside of Capital One Arena before being officially introduced as head coach.
"The warm welcome that myself and family received was overwhelming. It's been very humbling but also great at the same time," said Carbery.
He spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Prior to joining the Maple Leafs, he was the head coach of the Hershey Bears, Washington's American Hockey League affiliate for three seasons from 2018-2021.
Carbery also spent five seasons as head coach of the South Carolina Stingrays from 2011-2016, with the Stingrays as the Capitals ECHL affiliate in his final two seasons. Carbery looks to take his experience coaching in the AHL and ECHL, to reach some of the Capitals' younger players.
"I can help our young players develop on the fly, and get caught up to speed as quickly as possible because of my experience, and how I communicate. I'll do anything I can to find ways to help them be successful," said Carbery.
When asked to describe his coaching style, he said, "Number one, I'm a strong communicator and that's something that I really take a lot of pride in. But at the same time, I'm very passionate and energetic. I put that in the category of motivating a group and motivating a team."
A big part of this Capitals team is its captain Alex Ovechkin and Carbery wants to make sure Ovechkin has continued success as he chases history, and Wayne Gretzky's NHL goals scored record.
"It's my job as a head coach to put him in situations where he can be successful, and that's what my challenge is and I don't take that lightly at all," said Carbery. Carbery also adds that while reaching Gretzky's mark of 894 career goals is important to Ovechkin, it's not the most important thing.
"In the limited time that I've been around him, and the conversations that we've had, I'm always so impressed with how badly he wants to win. Now, he wants to score goals more than anybody, but at the same time, he's desperate to win, so that's where his focus goes when he's talking to me," says Carbery.
Another big challenge Carbery has as he takes on this team is getting the Capitals back to the playoffs. They missed the postseason for the first time in nine seasons this year.
"That's my challenge and that's what I'm getting to work on immediately. We obviously feel as a team and as an organization that we want to be back in the playoffs and give ourselves an opportunity to get into the big dance," said Carbery.
The Washington Capitals have hired Spencer Carbery as their next coach, bringing back a favorite of the organization to fill the job he envisioned to get years ago.