When the Toronto Maple Leafs managed to escape a first-round exit for the first time since 2004, it was largely thanks to a power play that showed up and capitalized on chances. Well, until the second round, anyway. But there’s only so much a coach can do.

Spencer Carbery oversaw the Leafs’ power play in 2021-22 and 2022-23 and led them to great results, good for first in the NHL in the former with a 25.5 percent success rate and third in the NHL at 22.8 percent in the latter campaign. Carbery’s power play ended up sixth in the league throughout the playoffs despite skidding against the Florida Panthers in the second round, and he was the one assistant coach who managed to keep the units going strong all season long for a team that’s struggled with power play consistency over the past five years or so.

All of this is to say that Carbery became an attractive candidate for head coaching jobs across the league, with the Washington Capitals coming out victorious in the hiring process. So far, it’s been a match made in heaven. He led the Capitals to a surprising playoff berth in 2023-24. To this date, Carbery has led the Capitals to a first-place start in the Eastern Conference, good for second in the league with a record of 36-11-8.

The new Capitals head coach joined Leafs Morning Take on Thursday, prior to Canada’s victory over the USA in the 4-Nations Championship, and said that getting to pick the brains of some of the Leafs’ veterans at the time helped give him the confidence to pursue a head coaching gig.

“I always say this. I feel like I got a two-year masterclass in coaching in the NHL,” Carbery said. “Because, as an assistant, you’re in a secondary role. You’re in the background a little bit, you’ve got your responsibilities, you’ve got your means, but you have all this time to take in all this great information and learn from Jason Spezzas, Jake Muzzins, all these people, you get to pick their brain, Mark Giordano, too.”

Carbery was quick to credit the less-experienced skilled players, too.

“Obviously, all the elite players you’re around. You get to see how Willy [Nylander] thinks the game, how he sees things on the power play.”

Carbery went on to credit the Leafs with giving him that extra boost he needed to pursue a head coaching job, erasing any doubts that he may have had in his ability.

“I left Toronto feeling A) grateful, B) gaining all this knowledge, and C) really confident that, okay, now I feel really comfortable,” Carbery continued. “I believed I could be an NHL head coach below, but now I feel really comfortable and confident to get on that bench as a head coach.”

The Capitals are in a prime position to cause some serious trouble in the postseason, something what will rejuvenate the market after winning a Cup in 2017-18 before running into some hardships with a streak of first round exits and one missed playoff since then. With Alex Ovechkin’s goal chase and some exciting young talent in their lineup contributing to such a strong Capitals team, Carbery has a chance to execute on something he wasn’t able to accomplish in Toronto, but he hasn’t forgotten about his roots.

“It was humbling because I felt bad,” Carbery reflected. “Being part of Sheldon [Keefe]’s staff and not being able to finish the job, we won the one round, we beat Tampa my last year there, but just really grateful. He took a chance on he, he called me, he didn’t know me, he didn’t hire his buddy to run the power play, he called me out of the blue because him and I coached against each other and he respected the job I did and wanted to pursue interviewing me to run the power play.”

Carbery was, ironically enough, head coach of the Capitals’ AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears, before he took the assistant job in Toronto. Though much of his tenure was turfed by the COVID-19 pandemic, he did lead the team to first in the league the year before the Leafs hired him, and credits the Leafs with putting their trust in him.

“They took a chance on an American league head coach to run the power play in Toronto,” Carbery said. “I know that you guys would know that not a lot of people would take that chance. So, I will be forever grateful to them for taking that chance on me, and the reason I’m sitting here in Washington right now is because they took that chance on me.”

You can watch the full interview below.