The Washington Capitals are an American professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. The Capitals play in the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Hockey League (NHL). The team joined the NHL in 1974 as an expansion team and won their first Eastern Conference championship in 1998. The Capitals have played their home games at the Capital One Arena, formerly known as the MCI Center and Verizon Center, since 1997. The Capitals are owned by Ted Leonsis, and Brian MacLellan is their general manager.
There have been 20 head coaches for the Capitals franchise. The franchise's first head coach was Jim Anderson, who coached for less than a season. Bryan Murray is the franchise's all-time leader for the most regular-season games coached (672), the most regular-season game wins (343), the most regular-season points (769), the most playoff games coached (53), and the most playoff-game wins (24). Murray's brother, Terry, has also coached the Capitals, right after his brother Bryan. Roger Crozier, who only coached one game for the Capitals, is the franchise's all-time leader for the least regular-season game points (0). Ron Wilson won the Prince of Wales Trophy with the Capitals, but lost the 1998 Stanley Cup Final against the Detroit Red Wings. Bryan Murray, Bruce Boudreau, Barry Trotz and Spencer Carbery are the only Capitals coaches to have won the Jack Adams Award. None of the Capitals coaches have been elected into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder. Anderson, Danny Belisle, Gary Green, Crozier, Glen Hanlon, Dale Hunter, Adam Oates, and Spencer Carbery have spent their entire NHL head coaching careers with the Capitals.
Dale Hunter, who replaced Boudreau on November 28, 2011, resigned on May 14, 2012, citing personal reasons. Adam Oates was named the Capitals' 16th head coach on June 26, 2012. After having missed the playoffs for the second time in seven years, the Washington Capitals hired former Nashville Predators coach Barry Trotz on May 26, 2014. Trotz resigned as head coach in June 2018, after winning the Stanley Cup for the first time in the franchise's history. Later that same month, the team promoted Todd Reirden, a Capitals assistant coach since 2014, to the head coaching position.
On September 15, 2020, Peter Laviolette was named head coach. On April 14, 2023, Laviolette and the Capitals mutually agreed to part ways after the team missed the playoffs for the first time since the 2013–14 season and finished with a below-.500 win percentage. On May 30, 2023, Hershey Bears head coach Spencer Carbery was named Capitals head coach.
Key #Number of coachesGCGames coachedWWins = 2 pointsLLosses = 0 pointsTTies = 1 pointOTOvertime/shootout losses = 1 pointPTSPoints* Spent entire NHL coaching career with the Capitals
Coaches Note: Statistics are correct through the 2025–26 season. # Name Term Regular season Playoffs Achievements Reference GC W L T/OT PTS GC W L Win%1Jim Anderson* 54 4 45 5 13 — — — —2Red Sullivan 18 2 16 0 4 — — — —3Milt Schmidt– 44 5 34 5 15 — — — —4Tom McVie– 204 49 122 33 131 — — — —5Danny Belisle*– 96 28 51 17 73 — — — —6Gary Green*– 157 50 78 29 129 — — — —7Roger Crozier* 1 0 1 0 0 — — — —8Bryan Murray– 672 343 246 83 769 53 24 29 Jack Adams Award (1984)9Terry Murray– 325 163 134 28 354 39 18 21 10Jim Schoenfeld– 249 113 102 34 260 24 10 14 11Ron Wilson– 410 192 159 59 443 32 15 17 12Bruce Cassidy– 110 47 47 16 110 6 2 4 13Glen Hanlon*– 239 78 122 39 195 — — — —14Bruce Boudreau– 329 201 88 40 442 37 17 20 Presidents' Trophy (2010)Jack Adams Award (2008)15Dale Hunter* 60 30 23 7 67 14 7 7 16Adam Oates– 130 65 48 17 147 7 3 4 17Barry Trotz– 328 205 89 34 444 63 36 27 Stanley Cup champions (2018)Presidents' Trophy (2016, 2017)Jack Adams Award (2016)18Todd Reirden*– 151 89 46 16 194 15 5 10 19Peter Laviolette–138 80 41 17 177 11 3 8 20Spencer Carbery*–present 246 134 83 29 297 14 5 9 Jack Adams Award (2025)
Notes A running total of the number of coaches of the Capitals. Thus, any coach who has two or more separate terms as head coach is only counted once. Since the start of the 2005–06 season, the NHL has instituted a penalty shootout for regular season games that remained tied after a five-minute overtime period instead of ending in a tie. Each year is linked to an article about that particular NHL season.
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