- 2 days ago
Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery joins Grant & Danny to break down the recent trades the team made and Alex Ovechkin's future.
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00:00Welcome back, Grant and Danny on the fan.
00:02We told you we'd be joined by the head coach of the Washington Capitals,
00:07fresh off of a multi-year extension and one of these star coaches
00:10in the National Hockey League, Spencer Carberry,
00:13and he's on the Rude Guest Hotline.
00:14Rude, the most reliable heating and air conditioning products in the DMV.
00:19Carbs, it's awesome to catch up with you.
00:21Thanks so much, and congrats on the extension.
00:23Appreciate it, guys.
00:24Thanks for having me on today.
00:26Our pleasure.
00:27Man, you guys have been busy.
00:28I don't know how many texts and calls you've got from Mac and Chris Patrick
00:32the last few days, but I'd imagine that the group thread's been pretty lit.
00:37Yeah, there's been a lot of communication back and forth.
00:41It's been a busy, call it 72 hours.
00:44How long can you keep up a trade-per-day pace?
00:48I don't know.
00:49I don't know.
00:50I bumped into Chris this morning, and I said, wow, what a 48 hours,
00:55and I sort of joked with him, could it be 72 hours?
00:58And what do you know, another deal today?
01:01Yeah, we're at three days in a row where the Caps have been involved in pretty
01:05significant trade news.
01:06So let's just work our way back through chronologically.
01:08I want to start with the deal for Jordan Cairo coming over from the Blues,
01:14the first of two 30-goal guys that you had.
01:17He's gone for 30-plus three of the last four years.
01:19What are you getting in Cairo?
01:22Yeah, so it's tough, you know, Connor McMichael, who's sort of homegrown,
01:27has grown up in the organization, and been a really good player for us,
01:31and Hershey won a Calder Cup, and the last few years has done a real good job
01:35as sort of a two-way guy.
01:38Now, Jordan Cairo comes to us, and he's more of a dynamic, fast,
01:45can break you down one-on-one.
01:47You mentioned the goal-scoring ability and the production that he's been able
01:50to achieve through his career.
01:52So we're getting a real dynamic offensive player that can really skate,
01:58can shoot the puck, and make a ton of plays.
01:59So on Cairo, we spoke to him, he was awesome with us, Coach,
02:04but there's that one awkward question in there where you're going,
02:07so look at the goal totals, well over 30, well over 30, well over 30,
02:10and then half that, and you kind of have to go, what happened last year?
02:14So in your estimation, as you're looking at it from afar, what happened,
02:18and you guys obviously have confidence that it's not a repeatable thing,
02:20that he'll be right back on the good foot there,
02:22but what did you see, and why do you feel confident he'll be just fine here?
02:27So we look at a bunch of different things.
02:29So number one, his underlying analytics, meaning the numbers,
02:34like how was he generating offense, was the puck on his stick,
02:38how were his controlled entries, did he touch the puck as much as he normally,
02:41and that stuff was all pretty solid.
02:44The finishing went down, which that can fluctuate.
02:47Sort of Mikey went through that a little bit this year,
02:49his finishing rate went down, and now all of a sudden your goals go from 25 down to 15,
02:54and people are going, what the heck happened?
02:56Well, usually, and you hope that that's just an off year,
03:00and what gives you confidence is Cairo, Jordan's been able to do it year after year after year.
03:07I think last year, the team as a whole in St. Louis sort of struggled a little bit offensively,
03:13so if you look at their whole team's numbers, are a little bit down.
03:17So that kind of tells you another little tidbit of probably just an off year for the group,
03:21and hopefully he can pick right back up to what he's shown his whole career here in Washington.
03:28Yeah, I love the trade.
03:29I wanted goal scoring, and I wanted someone dynamic in that top six skill,
03:32and you deliver it in this deal, obviously, but I think there was initial sticker shock
03:37or maybe just some disappointment for Caps fans, as is always the case when a fan favorite leaves town,
03:43and you mentioned Mike, he was 25 years old and has been here since you drafted him
03:46with the 25th overall pick in 19, and people really like what he became.
03:51You know, he himself, going back two seasons ago, scored 26 goals.
03:55What was it, just that there's a little more ceiling to the offense and the finishing of Cairo,
03:59or going to take us through where you were on Mikey as an organization
04:03when you decide that he's got to be part of this thing?
04:06Yeah, I think that's just it.
04:08I think Connor McMichael's going to be a tremendous player in this league for a long time.
04:12I think just Jordan is a little bit more at this point.
04:16Who knows, you know, in two, three, four years, maybe Mikey can reach the 30 goal,
04:21the 75 point time will tell, but Jordan at this point in his career has just shown it.
04:27But he is able to score 30 plus goals, generate 70 points, and he's done it multiple times.
04:34And so that's all it is, is a case of really getting a player that has already arrived right
04:42in the primus here.
04:43And I don't want to get too much GM here, because it's not my field and not my area.
04:47But you have to also know, as Mikey's now in the new cap era, so he's an RFA,
04:53so he's looking for a new deal, which is probably going to come in at a higher number
04:58than what usually or what people are accustomed to.
05:02And Jordan is on a long-term deal right now that we have for five more years,
05:06and that number won't change.
05:08So in this new cap era, with the cap continuing to climb,
05:12guys that are signing new deals, i.e. Alex Tuck,
05:15they're significantly higher because the cap's gone up,
05:18and that's how the agents are negotiating is, well, the cap's gone up,
05:22so what is the salary per year?
05:24You may not want to put the GM hat on, but you sounded good wearing it there.
05:27I believed you.
05:28Good information from Spencer Carberry, the 44-year-old head coach,
05:32former Jack Adams Award winner as the coach of the year,
05:34has had the caps in the postseason two of his three years,
05:37kind enough to join us here on Grant and Danny.
05:39So then day two of the wheeling and the dealing for Mac and Patrick was Alex Tuck,
05:44and he's most famous for Caps fans right now for being the guy on the wrong end
05:48of the business end of Braden Holpe's The Save in the Stanley Cup
05:52for the Vegas Golden Knights.
05:54But what a good player he's turned into over the years.
05:57And like Kairou, three times over four seasons, 30-plus goals.
06:01He's actually topped 35 goals two times during that span.
06:05What do you make out of this addition and the size he brings?
06:09He's massive.
06:106'4", 220.
06:12Yeah, it really plays into our identity, especially as a forward group.
06:17We are a big, heavy, hard group up there that's a lot to handle.
06:23And Alex kind of fits right in line with Pierre-Luc Dubois,
06:28both Pro Toss brothers, Tom Wilson, Dylan Strom,
06:32these 6'3", 6'4", 220-pound forwards that can really cause opponent,
06:40especially defensemen, a lot of issues.
06:42And he combines that with a skating ability.
06:45He can create off the rush.
06:47He usually generates.
06:49I mean, I was reading some numbers the other day against us.
06:51He's like, call it 14 games.
06:53I think he's got like 10 goals against the Caps.
06:56So he would always find a way to get a breakaway or two against us
06:59and put it in the back of the net.
07:00And so you're getting another dynamic player, just maybe a little bit bigger,
07:06more physical, plays on the inside, a little bit more so than Jordan.
07:11Coach, educate me here.
07:12You've obviously forgotten more about hockey this morning than I'll ever know.
07:15And I know it's not – the positions aren't as sacred as they are, say, in baseball,
07:18where a shortstop is a shortstop and et cetera.
07:20But there are a bunch of right wings on this roster that have some pretty good pelts
07:24on the wall, be it Tuck, be it Wilson, be it Cairo, et cetera.
07:27Good problem for you to have, but how does that affect your line combos
07:31and the way you're kind of going to deploy these guys?
07:34Yeah, so in your baseball analogy, I think it would just be moving a guy
07:38from short to second.
07:40You know, you get two shortstops.
07:41And, yeah, is it different?
07:43No doubt.
07:44But have they played second base before or a third guy going to first,
07:48which I've seen in the past?
07:50Like, it's – a lot of guys can play their off wing.
07:54The harder change would be going from a winger.
07:57Like, I'll give you an example.
07:58Like, Jordan is not going to play center for us.
08:00He hasn't played center.
08:01He's a winger.
08:02That would be a massive change for a forward and a significant change
08:08to what your game would look like.
08:10And so you rarely see that.
08:12But a winger moving left to right to his offside is quite common.
08:18So let's talk about the departure of Hendricks LaPierre.
08:21You guys trade him today for two draft picks.
08:24LaPierre's another guy, 24 years old, who, frankly,
08:27didn't really connect the dots.
08:29And you'd have to tell me why.
08:30I was always so high on him as a prospect.
08:32And he flashed like a strobe light, but he didn't put it together.
08:36Going to Pittsburgh's the one part of this that bothers me,
08:38just because you – like, God, would it suck if he turned into a 25-goal guy
08:42or, you know, a big-time player with the Penguins.
08:44But, man, did you guys get good value for him.
08:46Yeah, and that is – like, any time you, you know, trade inside the division
08:51or to a rival, it's not ideal.
08:54But the LaPierre did such an amazing job inside of our organization,
09:00won a Calder Cup multiple in Hershey,
09:04just had a phenomenal career down there.
09:07And then coming to us, he worked his butt off every single day.
09:12And I think just for him, like, the depth that we have at center,
09:18it now looks like there's some roadblocks in front of him
09:21where it's going to be challenging for him to get opportunities.
09:24So, being waiver-eligible, if you've got guys like Elia Protoss coming,
09:30obviously Dylan Strome, Dubois, the emergence of Justin Sordiff
09:33has put his opportunity in a little bit of a tougher spot.
09:37So, that's where Chris and Mac, you know, you try to recoup something
09:42and get some assets back for that.
09:44But wish him nothing but the best, and I hope just not against us.
09:48But he's just such a phenomenal young man.
09:50So, you talked about the center position.
09:53With Mikey leaving, I know he's played plenty of wing for you, too.
09:56Loppy can do a little bit of both.
09:58Stromer, Dubois, Protoss, Sordiff.
10:00Up the middle there, you look fine.
10:02But how about the org depth?
10:03Like, how do you feel overall about that spot after going wing heavy
10:07when you needed the goals?
10:08You got him.
10:08But what about center?
10:11So, we feel really good about our center ice position
10:14because, I mean, if you look now,
10:17now, so whether we go, you know, those four right there,
10:24Justin sort of played some second-line center for us last year
10:27with Pro and Willie and was excellent.
10:29And you could argue he's probably sitting like,
10:32geez, he's going to get plenty of opportunity.
10:34We'll make sure that he's not just playing eight, nine minutes a night.
10:37But if you look at that right there,
10:38Justin sort of could easily be your third-line center.
10:41Pro can easily move up.
10:43So, we feel like we've got four guys that all are going to be able to do
10:47a lot of heavy lifting.
10:48They all have good skill sets in their own right,
10:51and so we can utilize all four of them.
10:53Coach, it wasn't like you guys were slouches last year, you know,
10:56more points than a lot of teams in the Western Conference.
10:58So, when you're sitting down, you know, with the brass, the GMs,
11:02the team prezzes, and all those kind of guys,
11:03and you're kind of doing your autopsy, making your assessment,
11:06what did you come away with saying, hey, here's what we need,
11:08and then kind of I wonder how you've executed against that.
11:11I've got a pretty good feeling, but based on those conversations.
11:14It feels like goals may have come up.
11:16Yeah, it feels like I wonder what happened in that convo,
11:18but we'd love to kind of get some insight there.
11:20Yeah, I think when we went back on the year, like we,
11:26it wasn't all doom and gloom.
11:27Like, the injury to Pierre-Luc Dubois early in the season
11:33really tested us, and it put us in a difficult spot to, you know,
11:37utilize Justin sort of, and he did an excellent job.
11:40It just, over time, and as you get into December, January,
11:43we're still hanging on, still hanging on.
11:46You know, it put us in a difficult spot,
11:48but I thought we still continued to fight.
11:50We were right there.
11:51And I would point to this as well.
11:53Like, the Eastern Conference last year was just a gauntlet.
11:58For whatever reason, it was one of those years
11:59where it was looking like it was going to require 100 points
12:02to make the playoffs, which is unheard of.
12:04It ends up being, I think, Philly at 96 or 97 or something like that,
12:08and we're one point behind them and just missed.
12:11But we won something like 40-something games.
12:15We trade John Carlson and Nick Dowd at the deadline,
12:19get some really good assets back for the future,
12:22and continue to fight, and we're right there at the end.
12:24So I don't think we looked at it as we played terrible all year
12:28because there were a lot of positives that we took out of it.
12:30But, yeah, at the end of the day, we failed and missed the playoffs.
12:33So we've got to improve, and I've got to improve as our coaching staff
12:38and do a better job.
12:39And then also we're trying to make the roster better,
12:41which it looks like we have.
12:43Capitals having a big offseason.
12:45Obviously, the elephant in the room is still Alex Ovechkin.
12:49Have you talked to Ovi?
12:51Do you guys know which way he's leaning,
12:53and should we assume that the last 48 hours is indicative
12:56of knowing which direction this is going to go?
12:59Well, I don't think so.
13:01I spoke to him this morning.
13:03He's on vacation with his family and doing some working out there
13:09and spending time with his family.
13:12But at this point, no, there's been no decision,
13:14and he's sort of just sort of spending time with his family
13:20and trying to make the best decision.
13:22And when he tells us he's ready to sort of decide,
13:25we'll be right there for him.
13:27So there's no timeline, there's no way I'm leaning that he did mention
13:32and say today that he's following and seeing the moves
13:36and was really happy for the organization about acquiring Jordan and Alex.
13:42I love hearing that.
13:43This is a tough question, so I'm going to be as respectful as I can,
13:47and you could say whatever you can on it.
13:49But one of the toughest things I have to imagine to do as a coach and as a team
13:54is to pay the proper respect to an all-time legend like Ovi,
13:59who is the reason I care about hockey like I do and so many people in this town do.
14:03But at the same time, you guys just added 230 goal guys on the wing.
14:07You've got a chance to win big this year, with or without him, frankly.
14:12Have you had any conversations with him about if he would be willing to maybe play down the line
14:18a little bit to the third line or maybe not getting a full two minutes on the power play?
14:22Or as long as he's around, is that kind of what he's owed, do you think,
14:27as a priority over maybe the rest of the operation,
14:31just based on what he's meant to the sport, to the team?
14:33How do you view all that?
14:35Yeah, it's a totally fair question.
14:37I can tell you this, so like all those things you just mentioned,
14:41which I'll get to in a second, but above all, O wants to win.
14:46I know sometimes we lose track of that because the goals and the individual accolades
14:50and he's 41 years old and you're like, he genuinely wants to win.
14:56So as we improve the forward group,
15:01if now all of a sudden we've got two more 30-goal scorers
15:05and that means, oh, plays a minute or two minutes less of five on five
15:09and we're a better team, he is going to raise his arm and go, yes, I love this
15:13because he wants to win.
15:16And it's no different on the power play as well.
15:18And I think that's where we'll try to utilize of improving our forward group
15:22the way that we have is really leaning into our depth and being able to,
15:27okay, even Pierre-Luc Dubois, even Tom Wilson,
15:30his minutes got high last year, like can we now bring those down
15:34maybe two minutes a game, maybe bring O's two minutes a game down
15:40and now he's much more effective and efficient
15:43as opposed to having to play 19, he's playing 17
15:46and those 17 minutes are higher quality.
15:49So a little bit more quality versus quantity.
15:52And I think now you get 12 forwards that continue to roll out there
15:56and you get to utilize and are maybe playing one minute less,
15:59but you've got way more effective minutes.
16:01Coach, with Rasmussen-Dean's injury, do you guys need to maybe add a defenseman there
16:05or what's the prognosis?
16:07Yeah, I think so.
16:09That's one of our targets, July 1, of trying to find a defenseman
16:14because with Sandy probably being out for the first part of the season,
16:19the left side of our D Corps is real solid with Cole, Marty, Declan Chisholm,
16:27Jacob, Chickren, and probably going to need to add one defenseman July 1.
16:33Carbs, I don't know that you guys get enough credit,
16:36and you specifically deserve a lot of credit for this too,
16:39because I think the major flag in the ground for me was when you took over
16:43and this really started to happen at the NHL level,
16:45but the development of some of the blue-chip prospects while trying to win,
16:50it's hard to rebuild.
16:53We see teams that have to tank or detonate it and be bad.
16:56You guys did it on the fly.
16:58Cole Hudson looks like he could be a superstar.
17:00That dude could play for Team USA in the future maybe.
17:02We know about Ilya Protis coming on and Ryan Leonard.
17:06I don't know if there's still room for guys like Miro or Andrew Kristol
17:09to help this team next year or what,
17:11but how are you guys able to do both at the same time?
17:14Yeah, you literally hit the nail on the head.
17:17It's the most difficult part of my job every single day
17:19because you're trying, so young players, they need two things.
17:27They need opportunity, and they need a coach that's willing to let them fail
17:33because they're going to make mistakes.
17:36Usually that doesn't work in a winning environment because mistakes don't fly.
17:40We need to win.
17:41We need you to be able to make that play.
17:43We need you to be able to read that assignment.
17:47So the delicate balance between giving that opportunity
17:51and letting players fail in a winning environment,
17:54I'm not saying I haven't mastered it at all
17:57because it's a challenge every single day,
17:59but that's the hardest part, exactly what you said,
18:01because you're trying to win every night,
18:04but you have to understand that young players are going to make some mistakes,
18:09and you've got to be able to let them go out there again.
18:11Now, there's a line to that because, again, we're trying to win every single night
18:15and trying to get into the playoffs, but that's the delicate balance
18:18and why it's so difficult to develop young players when you're trying to win a Stanley Cup.
18:23It's hard to rebuild and win the Cup in the same year.
18:25Coach, awesome with us as always, and we'll probably just talk to you tomorrow after the next trade.
18:31I love it. I love it.
18:33Thank you, Spencer.
18:34Appreciate you, Coach.
18:35Yes, anytime. Great chat with you guys.
18:37You as well. Coach Spencer Carberry, excellent.
18:40Thanks to Coach for a few minutes there, and the Capitals making him available.
18:43It's been a busy 48 hours.
18:45There's a reshaping of that top six.
18:47I want to react to what he just said about Ovi.
18:50We'll do that next.
18:51It's done.
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