Spencer Carbery already has the answer to one of the biggest questions surrounding the Washington Capitals heading into this year’s training camp.

Carbery, the 2025 winner of the Jack Adams Award as NHL Coach of the Year, is going to start camp with Connor McMichael lined up as his third-line center. McMichael will make the move back down the middle after recording a career high 57 points (26g, 31a) in 82 games, almost exclusively as a top-six winger.

“You probably look at it and go, ‘Well, he’s the third-line center. Doesn’t he deserve a little bit more opportunity than that?’ I look at it as trying to balance out those top three lines,” Carbery told NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti. “Last year we felt like our top six was [locked] in and we were always trying to find a combination on that third line to give us some good, reliable minutes and also be productive.”

While the new setup is already planned for the preseason, Carbery did admit a variety of factors could impact whether McMichael actually stays at center to begin the regular season.

“Could it change partway through camp, based on injuries, based on needing or utilizing him in the top six? It definitely could, but the plan right now is for ‘Mikey’ to start in the middle,” he added.

McMichael’s path back to center was freed up this summer when Lars Eller departed the team as an unrestricted free agent. Instead of replacing him, the Capitals’ offseason moves were more focused on acquiring depth on the backend and on the wings.

Dylan Strome and Pierre-Luc Dubois are expected to retain their spots as the centers on the club’s top two lines. Both players had career-best years playing in the roles last season.

McMichael himself has also been very open about wanting to move back to his natural position, highlighting his desire to do so during his Breakdown Day media availability in May.

“I think I want to be a center for sure,” McMichael said. “I think that’s where I’m most comfortable. For me, it’s just wherever Carbs wants me to play, I’m fine with it. The benefit of playing wing for me this year was playing up in the lineup.”

McMichael has played center under Carbery’s guidance before, sparingly with the Capitals but primarily with the Hershey Bears during his first pro season (2020-21). The then-teenage McMichael led the Bears in scoring with 27 points (14g, 13a) in 33 games. Hershey would go on to win the AHL’s only trophy handed out that season, the Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy as the league’s top regular-season team.

The Capitals went with a nearly identical plan at the start of last season when Hendrix Lapierre was given a chance to secure a permanent NHL role down the middle. While Lapierre was inevitably unsuccessful, he did not have the prior experience and success level that McMichael now has in the league.