Capitals Spencer Carbery Wins Jack Adams Award for 2024-25 Season

Washington Capitals head Spencer Carbery was awarded the Jack Adams Award for the 2024-25 season after leading Washington to a 51-22-9 record and the top mark in the Eastern Conference with 111 points, a 20-point gain over the 2023-24 season where Washington slipped into the postseason on the final day of the season.

The award is voted on by members of the NHL Broadcasters’ Association prior to the start of the NHL Playoffs. Carbery’s 464 voting points were a runaway winner over Scott Arniel of the Winnipeg Jets and Martin St. Louis of the Montreal Canadiens. Carbery received nearly 80% of the first-place votes (81 out of 103). Arniel, a former Capitals assistant coach, finished in second place.

Spencer Carbery Washington Capitals — Spencer Carbery, Washington Capitals (Jess Starr/The Hockey Writers)

Carbery is the fourth Capitals head coach to win the Jack Adams Award. He joins Bryan Murray (1983-84), Bruce Boudreau (2007-08), and Barry Trotz (2015-16). Trotz also won the award in 2018-19, his first season coaching with the New York Islanders.

“Tremendous honor, very humbling,” Carbery said when finalists were announced last month. “For us, I look at it as a staff and, for that matter, an organizational nomination.”

Related: Jack Adams Award

Carbery is the first head coach in pro hockey to win the coach of the year award in the ECHL, the American Hockey League (AHL), and now the NHL. Washington’s bench boss won the John Brophy Award in the ECHL in 2013-14, the Louis A.R. Piers Memorial Award from the AHL in 2020-21, and this season’s Jack Adams Award from the NHL.

“The best indication is a lot of our guys had career years, and I think he’s a big part of it,” Capitals general manager Chris Patrick said during his end-of-season press availability. “I think the relationship between players and the coach throughout our lineup was excellent this year.”

Washington is expected to return a similar-looking team to Capital One Arena in D.C. next fall. According to PuckPedia, Washington is less than $10 million under the salary cap for the 2025 offseason.