To mark the conclusion of the 2024-25 regular season, NHL.com is running its fifth and final installment of the Trophy Tracker series this week. Today, we look at the race for the Jack Adams Award, given annually to the top coach in the NHL as selected in a vote by the NHL Broadcasters' Association.
Spencer Carbery allowed himself a moment of reflection.
This was April 10, after the Washington Capitals won their 50th game and clinched the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference with a 5-4 shootout win against the Carolina Hurricanes at Capital One Arena, exactly three weeks after a 3-2 win against the Philadelphia Flyers on March 20 made them the first team to clinch a Stanley Cup Playoff berth and gave them 100 points for the first time since 2021-22.
"Fifty wins in this league, and winning the Eastern Conference in the regular season, that's a huge achievement," Carbery said. "And it's a lot of hard work and a lot of difficult games. This league is relentless, and it is a grind, and it is unforgiving at times, and our team has done an exceptional job all year long of staying in the moment."
Fifty-wins and 109 points in Carbery's second season as a first-time NHL coach has him the favorite to win the Jack Adams Award with 78 voting points and 15 first-place votes from a panel of 16 NHL.com writers and editors. Scott Arniel of the Presidents' Trophy-winning Winnipeg Jets (45 points) and Dean Evason of the Columbus Blue Jackets (26) were second and third, respectively, followed by Martin St. Louis (25, one first-place vote), who has the Montreal Canadiens within one point of their first playoff berth since 2021.
"That's 50 wins through the dog days," Carbery said. "That's the key in this league is, can you drum up urgency on a Tuesday night in, and I'm not going to name a city, but can you find a way to make that game important for your team? Because it's hard, and guys go through it, and that's what this team does an amazing job of."
Urgency already is elevated. The Capitals are on a 3-6-1 slide that includes getting swept by the Blue Jackets during the weekend by a combined score of 11-1. Carbery couldn't help but notice something was missing throughout the euphoria of Alex Ovechkin pursuing Wayne Gretzky for the NHL goal-scoring record. He gave players some leeway for trying harder to get Ovechkin in position to set the mark, which he did with goal No. 895 at 7:26 of the second period against the New York Islanders at UBS Arena on April 6.
Not lost in the shuffle was a 4-1 loss that day. Through March 24, the Capitals were third in the NHL with 2.54 goals-against per game. They've since allowed 4.50 in 10 games since then (31st).
"We were a little bit loose," Carbery said April 9. "Now that that's gone, now that [Ovechkin's] achieved that, it's important that we pay attention to some things defensively that we need to get back inside of our game."
The Capitals have the luxury of clinching earlier than anyone, wholly different from a season ago when they needed Game 82 to secure the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference, which they clinched based on having the regulation wins tiebreaker (32-27) against the Detroit Red Wings after each finished with 91 points. Since 1979-80, Washington is the only team that has gone from being the last to clinch in one season to the first the following season.
More is needed to win a playoff series for the first time since the 2018 Stanley Cup championship season. If anyone can help with a reboot, it's Carbery, 43 years old and 90-52-20 in his brief NHL career.
"One of the things that they do an amazing job of is understanding the importance of every game inside of these 82," Carbery said, "and trying to do everything you can to drum up energy, attention to detail, mental focus, [physicality]. And to win 50 games this year and win the Eastern Conference, it's a huge accomplishment."
Voting totals (points awarded on a 5-4-3-2-1- basis): Spencer Carbery, Capitals, 78 points (15 first-place votes); Scott Arniel, Jets, 45; Dean Evason, Blue Jackets, 26; Martin St. Louis, Canadiens, 25 (1); Jim Montgomery, St. Louis Blues, 23; Jim Hiller, Los Angeles Kings, 12; Jon Cooper, Tampa Bay Lightning, 10; Rod Brind'Amour, Carolina Hurricanes, 8; Craig Berube, Toronto Maple Leafs, 5; Travis Green, Ottawa Senators, 4; Pete DeBoer, Dallas Stars, 3; Sheldon Keefe, New Jersey Devils, 1.
