Carbery named Capitals head coach

Former ECHL player and South Carolina Stingrays Head Coach Spencer Carbery has been named head coach of the National Hockey League’s Washington Capitals.

Carbery becomes the fifth former ECHL head coach as a current head coach in the NHL joining Buffalo Sabres head coach Don Granato, Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar, Detroit Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde and Vegas Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy. In addition, Edmonton Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft is a former ECHL player.

As a player, Carbery skated in 181 career ECHL games from 2007-10 with Bakersfield, Stockton, Fresno and South Carolina, totaling 73 points (32g-41a) and capturing a Kelly Cup title in 2009 with the Stingrays.

Following his retirement as a player, Carbery transitioned to the coaching ranks, serving as South Carolina's assistant coach for one season before being named the club's head coach in 2011-12. He compiled a 207-115-10 in five seasons as the Stingrays' coach, leading the team to the Kelly Cup Finals in 2015 and the Eastern Conference Finals in 2016. He received the John Brophy Award as ECHL Coach of the Year in 2013-14 after leading South Carolina to a 43-23-6 record.

After one season as head coach of the Ontario Hockey League's Saginaw Spirit in 2016-17, Carbery returned to the professional ranks as assistant coach of the American Hockey League's Providence Bruins in 2017-18 before being named head coach of the Hershey Bears for the 2018-19 season.

Carbery led the Bears to a 104-50-17 in his three seasons as the team's head coach. In 2020-21, he received the Louis A.R. Pieri Award as AHL Coach of the Year, joining Roy Sommer, Rick Kowalsky and Claude Noel as the only coaches to win the Coach of the Year Award in both the ECHL and AHL.

He has spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach for the Toronto Maple Leafs.