Capitals coach Spencer Carbery won the Jack Adams Award on Saturday after leading Washington to the top of the Eastern Conference in 2024-25.
Washington Capitals bench boss Spencer Carbery won the Jack Adams Award as the National Hockey League's top coach on Saturday — and the way he found out was nothing short of awesome.
Under the impression he was doing a television interview with Capitals play-by-play announcer Joe Beninati, he was instead surprised in the studio by his wife Casey, his son Hudson, his daughter Vivian, and his parents Bryan and Kate.
“I've been told there are a few special people who want to congratulate you on this outstanding season,” Beninati said before Carbery's family entered the studio, per NHL.com.
“He is under a ruse that he is coming here to do an interview for Monumental Sports. I think he is going to be really, really shocked,” said Casey Carbery.
The 43-year-old is well-deserving of the honor after leading the Washington Capitals to the top of the Eastern Conference and second in overall league standings. The Caps looked revujevnted in 2024-25, finishing with a sparkling 51-22-9 record.
“I had no idea,” Carbery said, per NHL.com. “How did everyone travel here? All corners of the continent. Washington State, South Carolina, Victoria, British Columbia, Chicago, Illinois, Green Bay, Wisconsin. For them to come to D.C. and celebrate this moment with me, I'll never forget that.”
The second year coach continued: “In the ultimate team sport as a coach, you hate things that direct attention toward you. Our support staff and obviously our players, all those people deserve so much credit for this award.”
Capitals improved exponentially in Spencer Carbery's 2nd season
After being hired as the 20th head coach in Capitals history in May of 2023, Carbery led the team to a 40-31-11 record in 2023-24, good enough for fourth place in the Metropolitan Division. Washington snuck into a wildcard spot before being swept by the President's Trophy-winning New York Rangers in Round 1.
In his second year, the Caps improved by 11 wins and 20 points, winning a Stanley Cup Playoff series for the first time since 2018. The squad easily beat the Montreal Canadiens in five games in the first round before bowing out to the Carolina Hurricanes in five in Round 2.
The difference in the team was night and day from 2023-24 to 2024-25: “They finished second in goals per game (3.49) in the regular season after being 28th last season (2.63), and tied for eighth in goals against per game (2.79) after tying for 16th in 2023-24 (3.07),” per NHL.com.
Although the Capitals came up short of their ultimate goal of winning the Stanley Cup, there is renewed hope in the nation's capital after the additions of Logan Thompson, Jakob Chychrun, Matt Roy and Pierre-Luc Dubois, among others.
Washington should again be a top team in the Metro next year, and it will be a critical season in the final year of Alex Ovechkin's contract. After breaking Wayne Gretzky's all-time goals record in 2024-25, he would love to add one more Stanley Cup to the collection before he retires.
And based on this season, it's clear Spencer Carbery is the right coach to get the Capitals back to hockey glory.
