Capitals coach Spencer Carbery wins Jack Adams Award

The NHL announced on Saturday that Washington Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery has received the Jack Adams award as the top head coach in the league for the 2024-2025 season.

Carbery, in his second season as the head coach of the Capitals, led the team to the best record in the Eastern Conference with a record of 51-22-9.

Washington defeated the Montreal Canadiens in five games in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs before falling to the Carolina Hurricanes in five games in the second round.

The former Toronto Maple Leafs assistant took the honor by garnering 81 first place votes and 464 points from the NHL Broadcasters’ Association.

Scott Arniel of the Winnipeg Jets finished in second place with 16 first place votes and 249 points, while Montreal’s Martin St. Louis, St. Louis’ Jim Montgomery and Tampa Bay’s Jon Cooper each picked up two first place votes apiece.

Carbery becomes the fourth coach in Washington’s franchise history to claim the honor, joining Barry Trotz, Bruce Boudreau and Bryan Murray.

He is also the first coach in the history of the sport to win coach of the year honors in the ECHL, AHL and NHL, having won the John Brophy Award with the South Carolina Stingrays in 2013-2014 and the AHL’s Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award with the 2020-2021 Hershey Bears.

Carbery worked hard to get the most out of a roster that featured several new players after the team earned the last wild card spot in the East in 2023-2024.

Center Pierre-Luc Dubois and defenseman Jakob Chychrun headlined the new arrivals, and both fit in seamlessly in their new roles with the Capitals.

The 2024-2025 Capitals will always be remembered for Alexander Ovechkin’s feat of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record for most career goals in NHL history, and Carbery received immense credit for putting Ovechkin in spots to maximize his production.