Carbery seeks right mix as new Capitals coach to fuel playoff return

WASHINGTON -- Spencer Carbery is wasting no time jumping into his long list of tasks after being hired as coach of the Washington Capitals on Tuesday. That included going house and school hunting in the Washington area with his wife, Casey, and children, Hudson and Vivian, following his introductory news conference Thursday.

Those searches might be the easier for Carbery than the challenge he faces in his first NHL head coaching job with the Capitals. The 41-year-old is charged with infusing some younger players into a veteran-filled team and getting it back into the Stanley Cup Playoffs after it failed to qualify this season for the first time since 2014.

"That to me is exciting," Carbery said. "You have young players that are hungry to prove that they're capable National Hockey League players and then you've got a group of veteran players that feel like they have a chip on their shoulder and they're ready to prove something that we are still a very strong team in the National Hockey League. … That's the mix and that's what I try to bring together and make sure that we compete at a real high level."

Carbery has some familiarity with each group. Prior to being an assistant with the Toronto Maple Leafs the past two seasons, Carbery coached Washington's American Hockey League affiliate in Hershey for three seasons, so he knows some of their younger players, including 22-year-old centers Connor McMichael and Aliaksei Protas and 23-year-old defensemen Martin Fehervary and Alexander Alexeyev.

From being at training camps with the Capitals, Carbery also has some tangential connection with the core players remaining from their 2018 Stanley Cup championship team, including forward Alex Ovechkin, 37, center Nicklas Backstrom, 35, forward T.J. Oshie, 36, defenseman John Carlson, 33, center Evgeny Kuznetsov, 31, and forward Tom Wilson, 29. And he knows what it's like to work on a daily basis with top offensive players such as Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews and forward Mitchell Marner.

That's why Washington general manager Brian MacLellan thought Carbery would be the right fit to be Capitals coach after they mutually parted ways with predecessor Peter Laviolette, who was in the final season of a three-year contract.

"Spencer's experience in Toronto dealing with the established, highly skilled players, running a high-end power play, I think that level of relationship, that level of communication, I think is a skill he's learned over the last two years, and I think it's applicable to what's going on with us," MacLellan said. "We'll have the same type of players, and he has experience doing that. In the end, I think he's a blend of a having a strong background in development and being able to coach high-end players."

Carbery mentioned wanting Washington to play with pace, and though he stressed that isn't solely about skating speed, having more younger legs involved would help.

Fehervary already established himself as a regular with the Capitals the past two seasons under Laviolette. McMichael, Protas and Alexeyev, along with other prospects such as 21-year-old center Hendrix Lapierre and 20-year-old defenseman Vincent Iorio should have a chance to play more regular roles in the NHL under Carbery.

"It's our job as a coaching staff to come in and help these young players get caught up to speed as quickly as possible," Carbery said. "It's also the responsibility of our leadership group to be a big part in helping to get these young players ready to play and play in a winning culture."

Carbery is counting on the veterans being motivated to rebound after a difficult season. Washington (35-37-10) was besieged by injuries and finished 12 points behind the Florida Panthers for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference.

"I'm just starting to touch base with them with some relationship-building stuff in there and figure out what they saw, where we need to go, things that we can improve on," Carbery said. "Just gather information. That's my No. 1 objective is gather information, so now we can make good decisions. What happened? Where are we at? What do we feel we need to do?

"From everywhere from training camp to practices to games, it all is important for me to listen."

Of course, no veteran is more important than Ovechkin, who remained an elite goal-scorer in his 18th NHL season, leading the Capitals and tying for ninth in the League with 42 goals. The Washington captain is second in NHL history with 822 goals and closing in on Wayne Gretzky's League record of 894.

Ovechkin's pursuit of that record will come under Carbery's watch, and the new coach understands the importance of putting the left wing in the best position to succeed.

"I've watched and saw his greatness up close and indirectly and I take a lot of responsibility in that," Carbery said. "So 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 and that will work into how we play as a group."

But the priority is to get the Capitals back into the playoffs in a highly competitive Eastern Conference where there will be younger teams also pushing to get in next season such as the Buffalo Sabres, Ottawa Senators and Detroit Red Wings.

"No question it's going to be a daily challenge because of the competitiveness, the difficulty to make the playoffs," Carbery said. "But that's what my job is. I've got to get to work immediately on how do we [take] a younger group that's coming in and push it and blend that together with a veteran group that has proven a lot and are phenomenal players?

"There's a lot of proud, highly competitive champions on our roster that are going to want to prove that we can still do that. That's where my focus will go."

Photo courtesy: Jess Rapfogel/Washington Capitals