As it pertains to work-life balance, Spencer Carbery has a simple policy: His laptop remains at the Washington Capitals practice facility in Arlington. If he brought it home, he would certainly watch video of the Caps team he coaches, searching for solutions. That, of course, would suck time away from wife, Casey, and his kids, son Hudson, who’s about to turn 12, and daughter Vivian, 10. A 42-year-old obsessed with hockey has to be present when it’s time to be present.
“When I’m home, I’m Dad and husband,” Carbery said, and he smiled somewhat mischievously. “But you can never truly shut it down. Like, there’s always something in the back …”
And he put his hand to the rear or his shiny bald dome, fidgeting with it, indicating activity. Hockey eats at him. It’s buried in his brain. The questions flow. What if we tried this on the power play? What if we tried something different as a breakout?
Eventually, in the middle of the night, his phone comes out. He’s typing into the Notes app.
“I’ve got to get better at sleeping,” Carbery said.
No laptop at home? There’s only one solution: Head into the office.
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Perspective by [Barry Svrluga](https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/barry-svrluga/?itid=ai_top_svrlugabw):
As it pertains to work-life balance, Spencer Carbery has a simple policy: His laptop remains at the Washington Capitals practice facility in Arlington. If he brought it home, he would certainly watch video of the Caps team he coaches, searching for solutions. That, of course, would suck time away from wife, Casey, and his kids, son Hudson, who’s about to turn 12, and daughter Vivian, 10. A 42-year-old obsessed with hockey has to be present when it’s time to be present.
“When I’m home, I’m Dad and husband,” Carbery said, and he smiled somewhat mischievously. “But you can never truly shut it down. Like, there’s always something in the back …”
And he put his hand to the rear or his shiny bald dome, fidgeting with it, indicating activity. Hockey eats at him. It’s buried in his brain. The questions flow. What if we tried this on the power play? What if we tried something different as a breakout?
Eventually, in the middle of the night, his phone comes out. He’s typing into the Notes app.
“I’ve got to get better at sleeping,” Carbery said.
No laptop at home? There’s only one solution: Head into the office.
What time are we talking?
“It’s usually 3-something,” he said.
Headed into the first Stanley Cup playoffs of his head coaching career, this is not the time to learn new sleep patterns. There are so many [unlikely and remarkable elements](https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/04/19/washington-capitals-goal-differential/?itid=lk_inline_manual_13) to [this Capitals postseason appearance](https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/04/19/capitals-stanley-cup-playoffs-pressure/?itid=lk_inline_manual_13), from injury to attrition to an unexpected style of play, that it’s easy to forget one surprising part: The person who held the Caps together when they could have been falling apart is a rookie head coach with an uncanny sense of what to say and when, who thought he would be coaching one kind of team but adjusted when his personnel demanded it.
Read more here: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/04/20/spencer-carbery-playoffs/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=reddit.com](https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/04/20/spencer-carbery-playoffs/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=reddit.com)
here’s a gift link without the paywall – https://wapo.st/3UpUJEg
Gonna celebrate tomorrow’s game with a feast of Carbs!