The Washington Capitals announced on Tuesday morning via Twitter that they had hired Toronto Maple Leafs Assistant Coach Spencer Carbery as their club’s new head coach.
Carbery served as assistant to Sheldon Keefe over the last two seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs after holding the role as the head coach for the Capitals AHL affiliate Hershey Bears from 2018 until 2021.
The 41-year old Carbery had a four year professional hockey career where he played on five teams through the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) before retiring in 2010.
He jumped from being a left winger with the South Carolina Stingrays to the assistant coach of the team the next season and one-year later he was the head coach for that same team for five years. After brief stops as the head coach for the Saginaw Spirit in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) and an assistant coach with the Providence Bruins he made his way as the Bears head coach before landing in Toronto for two seasons.
Vacancy on Toronto Maple Leafs Staff
With the Toronto Maple Leafs still without a general manager, Keefe is still in limbo about his future with the organization. So while there is technically a vacancy on Keefe’s staff, it’s unlikely that Keefe even has a staff anymore.
One candidate that could land the top spot is former NHL head coach Bruce Boudreau who has not hid his desire to work on the coaching staff with the club. It’s highly doubtful he’d be an assistant coach, however.
Boudreau most recently coached the Vancouver Canucks, but was fired part way through this last season. He has also spent time as the head coach for the Washington Capitals, Anaheim Ducks and Minnesota Wild.
The 68-year old has also won Championships as the head coach for the Mississippi Sea Wolves of the ECHL in 1999 and the Hershey Bears of the AHL in 2006. Boudreau took home the Jack Adams Award as the leagues top coach in his first year coaching in the NHL back in 2008.
As a player, the Toronto native spent parts of seven seasons in the Toronto Maple Leafs organization.