The Capitals Have Officially Entered The Spencer Carbery Era & The Players Are Loving Every Second Of It: 'You Want To Put In The Work'

The Capitals have felt Carbery's energy these first couple of days at MedStar Capitals Iceplex.

ARLINGTON, V.A. — Pounding his stick on the ice, keeping the whistle close and shouting out words of encouragement, Spencer Carbery immediately made his presence known as a new era kicked off for the Washington Capitals — and the players are loving every second of it so far.

Carbery's first two days of training camp have been action-packed, featuring skate tests, 2v2 and 3v3 drills, small area games and breakouts up and down the ice. The intensity is cranked up all the way, and for a team that missed out on the playoffs last season, it's exactly what it hopes to see as it hits reset and looks to bounce back.

"His energy, his passion, his excitement, you feel it in the group... guys are flying around the ice, competing hard," Tom Wilson explained. He just has that presence that you want to wake up; you want to put in the work. Just a youthful kind of excitement."

High energy was the first thing the Capitals noticed. Carbery, along with new assistants Kirk Muller and Mitch Love, wanted to create a sense of what the environment would be like on Day 1, and it paid off big time.

"You can feel the energy those guys bring," captain Alex Ovechkin said.

"Getting to know him a little bit the last few weeks or so before camp here, just seeing him around, you can sense his energy right away, and that translates right away out on the ice," Darcy Kuemper said. "It was contagious throughout the group. Guys were competing... that started with him."

For the 41-year-old, this was a long time coming.

"There's so much build-up... it's felt like it's been six months since I was sitting at that press conference and it's just anticipation, like, 'Let's get going, let's get going.' Really excited the day has come and now we can just get to work," Carbery said. "At the end of the day, that's what us as coaches want, to get into the trenches and get into the grind, and this is the start of it right here, of trying to help our group come together, help our individual players, help bring this group back to where they've been."

Carbery, who spent the last years as an assistant with the Toronto Maple Leafs, has a clear plan in place: he wants to make the Capitals quicker while also incorporating some youth into the mix. He relayed that message loud and clear on Day 1 of training camp, and it clicked with his players right away.

"I like the way he sees hockey, it's a perfect match for me and a perfect match for guys inside the team," Evgeny Kuznetsov said. "He wants to keep the puck in the middle, he wants to control the game, he wants to hold onto the puck. I'm a big fan of that... there's a lot of positivity in my head when I talk to him."

"[He wants] compete, he wants guys to show their character out on the ice, whether it's practice or games. Compete and have a willingness to get better every day," Kuemper added.

Matthew Phillips, who is looking to crack the main roster after signing a deal with D.C. this summer, said that Carbery's coaching style allots him more opportunity to learn.

"You can tell that he puts a lot of thought into everything we do, and he gives a 'why' as to why we do a lot of drills... he's very clear in how it communicates," Phillips said. "You can tell that he just loves what he does, so it's pretty easy to follow his lead."

Carbery said that he sees a lot of potential with the 63 skaters already in attendance for camp, and that he also spots a lot of areas for improvement.

"To my eyes, it needs to be quicker in some areas. It's not the skating speed, it's the puck-movement speed, it's getting up ice quicker, it's stretching the zone, it's being quicker to attack," Carbery said. "When we get the puck, it's those things that we have to recognize where we've got to go way quicker, and we've got to get up ice quicker."

Ultimately, having a young and enthusiastic coach at the helm has made a major difference for Washington's players so far, from the veterans to the rising prospects. And going into a new season, there's a lot of confidence that he can be the one to help the Capitals toward redemption.

“I mean, I think he’s just gonna bring in a new philosophy for us. And I mean, a lot of things are gonna change systematically, I think, and I just think that hopefully that’s gonna fit us a little bit better, the way we wanna play and go from there, you know?" Nicklas Backstrom said. "I mean, it’s only been a couple of days with him, but he seems like a smart coach and a lot of good pointers already. So I’m excited to work with him.”