Screencap: Washington Capitals
The Washington Capitals officially introduced Spencer Carbery as their next head coach Thursday morning in Washington. Carbery was announced as the 20th head coach in Capitals franchise history on May 30.
Carbery, his wife Casey, son Hudson and daughter Vivian, arrived at District E, a state-of-the-art gaming and hospitality space located in Gallery Place, directly adjacent to Capital One Arena, around 10AM this morning. Their entrance to District E was lined by Capitals faithful, welcoming them to Washington.
A warm welcome for the Carbery Family! pic.twitter.com/TfBgmp0HOc
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) June 1, 2023
Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan joined Carbery for the initial introductions. MacLellan said Carbery “came out on top from Day 1. We feel we’ve signed one of the best young coaches in the game.”
MacLellan added, “The main reason we’re here today and hired Spencer is a high level of trust and comfort for both parties.” MacLellan said that the team talked to other potential candidates, as did Carbery with other teams, but ultimately landed with the guy they wanted all along.
MacLellan told NBC Sports Washington, “He has a reputation of getting guys to play the right way and holding them accountable and he does a good job system wise, so he checks a lot of boxes off as a head coach.”
Carbery then fielded questions from the media for the better part of a half hour. He began by speaking about the process leading up to the Capitals announcement on May 30.
“This has always felt right for me…as I went through it, everything kept drawing me to this organization,” said Carbery. “In the back on my mind I had always felt like this organization just felt so much like home to me.” Carbery added, “I’ve always had a connection to this organization and this team.”
Carbery was asked about taking over as head coach with Alex Ovechkin chasing Wayne Gretzky’s record: “My job as a head coach is to put him in situations to be successful.” He called it a “huge responsibility.”
We will have much more on Carbery, his introductory presser and his first day on the job coming up later today.
By Jon Sorensen
PHOTOS FROM CAPITALS
Encouraging. But the honeymoon will end real quickly KC if he doesn’t start winning right away.
The Carbenator!
Do work, Carbs!
All very positive! The press conference, the General Manager, Joe B. as the Master of Ceremonies, Carbery’s family hopping off the bus. Carbery answered press questions without revealing too much or appearing nervous or negative
His “experience in Toronto” indeed is helpful. The Toronto – Montreal hockey media and fans are the most merciless in the world. DC media are “softballs” in comparison
Most NHL and AHL head coaches are superbly intelligent and motivated. Carbery is one of them. An advantage is that the Leonsis – Dick Patrick – GMBM axis wants the new guy to succeed, for real. They will have to do their part, providing Carbery with successful leadership cadre
Good. It’s over. Get to work. Perform bang-up NHL Entry Draft next month. Get everybody healthy (hope Dowd can make training camp). The top five will be motivated. The fan base sure is!
I’m very impressed with Carbs. He has a great attitude. He’s not pretentious at all. Sees the big picture. Hates losing. Has a vision for winning.
The Caps roster is changing. No coach can work miracles with this roster. I’d like to see a competitive team next year that other teams hate playing against. I don’t mind finishing well out of the playoffs if the young players develop and play the right way.
My main takeaways (apart from the obvious “pace + being connected”, etc. buzzwords)
a) new (known?) group of younger players is coming, and the vets have to prove their right to stay under the sun, at the same time have to help this young group to integrate
b) he seems to be a bit into micro-management, no? Everyone knows where they have to be exactly, and what exactly they have to do when. Not a bad thing, per se, the Caps could definitely use some systems (defense as a function, not the Ds and pairs themselves) was pathetic team-wise, so many giveaways and bad decisions around the net; PP was too predictable, etc. Speed of decisions with and without the puck needs to be improved – spot on! But how is this “do this, not that; now do that, not this” style going to sit with the core (provided certain players are still here by then) and vets in general? My concern…
I like reading “human interest” articles, not just game recaps, and a number have been of NHL players coming back from injuries or just getting older and working with a skating coach or other specialty coach or trainer. Some have welcomed new ways that better fit their bodies today, others have not been so welcoming. But any player traded has to adjust to new coaches, new teammates, new schemes.
I was quite impressed with what I saw and heard, overall. Yes, every player has to adjust to every new coach he has to work with. I’m just thinking that what works in the minor leagues with predominantly younger or less experienced players, might not work so well with people who been there, done that, and done it well. You don’t just take them by the hand and move them around all the time. Yes, he was able to move some big cogs around and get things moving on the PP and offense in general in Toronto. They kinda slipped in the second year, but maybe it was overall change of focus, two-way play, need to contribute defensively, etc. Okay.
I remember very vividly a conversation I once had with my new boss, 15 years back, when I was hired to lead a big department in a different type of organization from the one where I worked previously. So this very fun, outgoing type of guy tells me, whenever you do a morning meeting or get everyone together on a certain issue, voice your vision or the problems we’re facing, then ask everyone’s opinion, you have to listen first and foremost, and then just do whatever you’ve decided. Even if it’s the exact same thing you were planning all along. But you have to show people that you listen. Hard to argue with that, huh? 😄 Now, I started my own business the very next year, and have been running it for 14 years since, and wouldn’t trade it for the world. But going back to Carbery, he seems to be ready to listen, especially to the more experienced and accomplished players. And then he still wants to push them to be on board with his systems and his vision (he said that himself). What happens if they don’t quite agree or don’t like being pushed around like pegs on the ice? Do they leave, one by one (ex Ovi)? Does it become a revolving door for whoever, current and new players, that don’t fit in to a T? What if his style of play doesn’t yield wins at first, or for some time to come, given our roster issues? These are things that come to my mind.
I was really hoping they’d voice the fate of some existing Caps players, as well as prospects of specific Hershey players in joining the Caps lineup. But, oh well, first day on the job, needs more time, I understand 🤷🏼♂️
I’m more interested right now in the signing of assistant coaches.
Today was not that day. Today was about announcing Carbery and high level vision. Anything on specific players will top secret. BMAC going to go do his thing.
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Welcome Carbery family!
Caps did not sign Krebs or Has. Krebs goes back into draft pool, Has is free agent
I think it is possible we sign one or both to AHL contracts.