The Washington Capitals secured their first win of the 2025-26 season against the New York Islanders on Saturday night. While the 4-2 win gave the team two standings points, it also meant something else nearly as important: head coach Spencer Carbery gave his first postgame locker room victory speech of the year.
After Carbery gave much-deserved plaudits to two-goal scorer Aliaksei Protas and starting goaltender Logan Thompson, he stopped to ensure someone who didn’t play in the game received some recognition: interim assistant coach Patrick Wellar.
“One more thing,” Carbery yelled before grabbing a game puck. “This young man, his first win in the National Hockey League. Patrick Wellar.”
The Capitals’ locker room exploded into cheers as a sheepish Wellar accepted the puck from Carbery. While the puck exchanged hands, players chanted for Wellar to give a speech, and he eventually relented and delivered one.
“This is a special group,” Wellar said. “It’s my life’s honor to be a part of it.”
Wellar, 41, is with the Capitals as a temporary part of Washington’s coaching staff while the NHL continues its investigation into assistant coach Mitch Love, who has been on team-imposed leave since mid-September. The Saskatoon native has been an assistant coach in the AHL with the Hershey Bears since 2018, spending three seasons (2018-2021) on Carbery’s staff.
The former third-round pick of the Capitals in the 2002 NHL Draft spent six years with the organization as a defenseman for the Bears and the South Carolina Stingrays. He was a member of Hershey’s 2010 Calder Cup championship team and won three Kelly Cups in the ECHL with the Stingrays, Alaska Aces, and Reading Royals.
While he has had a pro hockey career spanning 21 seasons on the ice and behind a bench, Wellar has never made it to the NHL until this year. He is currently responsible for coaching the Capitals’ defensemen.