OTTAWA – The world “generational” gets thrown around a little too liberally these days when it comes to talking about prospects. Generational is supposed to be a rarity. Ya know, like once in a generation. 

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So I step to this statement with some apprehension, but I’m going to do it anyway.

David Carle may be a generational head coaching prospect. After earning his head coaching job at the University of Denver at 28 years old, Carle has led the Pioneers to two national championships. In his first two trips to the World Junior Championship, he led Team USA to back-to-back gold medals, unprecedented in USA Hockey history. He just turned 35 years old.

He was already one of the top coaching prospects in the game and NHL teams have expressed interest before. That will not slow down now. In fact, it’s going to be unavoidable every time a new coaching opening comes up. 

Winning is not easy. Yet, Carle has made winning consistently his hallmark. His winning percentage at Denver coming into this season was at .690, ahead of all-time greats at the school and one current NHL head coach – St. Louis Blues bench boss Jim Montgomery.

At the World Juniors, Carle’s teams had never lost in regulation and an OT loss to Finland was their only blemish. He has won 13 of 14 games as a U.S. head coach. 

How David Carle Led USA To Back-To-Back Golds

The 2025 World Junior Championship, to me, is one of Carle’s masterstrokes in his young career. The biggest reason? 

Last year, you could argue that Carle won with a super team. They had more first-round picks and more players with something to prove after they had fallen short of gold in other opportunities. They were perhaps hungrier, at least in theory. 

This year, USA had a lack of depth on defense and questionable secondary scoring. They also had to fold in 15 players with 10 that were part of last year’s gold-medal team and quickly get . They still were among the most talented teams in the tournament.

But the road to gold was not easy and USA had their one stumble against Finland in the preliminary round. But they found ways to win and they got contributions all over the lineup.

The gold-medal game was one of the more impressive things I’ve seen. USA got outright schooled in the first period, but kept the game close. They went down two goals in the second, but found a way to claw back.

The coaching staff made adjustments quickly and effectively.

They dominated the second, third and overtime. While USA shortened its bench on the blue line, they extended it at forward. Players that didn’t have as many shifts earlier in the game started playing more. USA got more energy. It was an adjustment that paid off.

It was fitting that Teddy Stiga, a player who was healthy scratched in the opening game of the tournament, ended up scoring the goal that won Team USA the tournament. They had pulled all the right levers at the right time to find a way to win gold.

Every single player made a contribution. And that’s because every single player bought into their role.

Play. Your. Role.
Cole Eiserman (#Isles) has been running with the role he's been given at the 2025 #WorldJuniors, even if it's not one he's used to. pic.twitter.com/THDnTbdl8x

— FloHockey (@FloHockey) January 5, 2025

Cole Eiserman has been a top-six forward his entire life. He has scored goals at an alarming rate. But at five-on-five, he lacks the versatility at this stage of his career to impact the game consistently enough at the World Junior level. So he eventually became USA’s 13th forward, used sparingly at even strength. Yet Eiserman still impacted the game with big goals against Canada and Czechia.

He bought in. And Carle praised him for it publicly. Eiserman accepted it publicly. And it helped them win. Those are the things that make Carle a good coach.

Zeev Buium said he is “the best coach in the world." While that might be lofty, Buium has only known winning with Carle. He was part of both gold medals and won both a conference and national championship with the head coach.

Even when not with #TeamUSA, Zeev Buium plays for head coach David Carle at the University of Denver and has firsthand knowledge of just how valuable his coach is.#WorldJuniors #CollegeHockey pic.twitter.com/WUUAXrkbMD

— FloHockey (@FloHockey) January 5, 2025

When Will David Carle Make The Jump To The NHL?

Carle has been asked about it time and time again and his answer never changes. If an opportunity comes up, he will consider it, but he will wait for the right opportunity. He has the luxury of being picky and the NHL team that successfully lures him away from a job he can have for the rest of his life, and a comfortable situation for his family will have to make a big, big offer and I don’t think he’s going to be signing on to any rebuilds unless he has some comfort with the plan.

When you think about Carle’s history – losing his playing career at 18 to a heart defect detected at the NHL Combine – he perhaps could not have mapped out a better road for the rest of his career in the face of a devastating diagnosis.

He was a student manager and then graduate assistant with Denver after legendary head coach George Gwozdecky honored his offered scholarship even though he couldn’t play. He was hired as a full-time assistant coach by eventual NHL head coach Derek Lalonde with the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers for his first full-time job in coaching. After a season and a half with Green Bay, Denver then called him back to be an assistant where he worked for Montgomery and helped Denver win their eighth national title in 2016-17.

When Montgomery was hired by the Dallas Stars to be their head coach, Denver promoted Carle at 28 years old to lead a program among the very best in college hockey. They were national champions by his fourth season.

When Denver was on its quest for a record 10 national titles in 2024, Carle led his team to wins over Macklin Celebrini and Boston University, as well as a loaded Boston College team, allowing one goal during the Frozen Four to two of the highest-scoring teams in the nation.

Every single step to prove himself, Carle has overdelivered. And he’s never really changed. He still takes Denver to his home state of Alaska to play the two programs out there almost every year.

He lets his staff do their jobs without micromanaging. He demands a lot of his players without leaning on them excessively, he drags his teams into the fight and prepares for every opportunity with an extremely high standard.

There is something special in this modern era of hockey about someone who at least outwardly often does the exact right thing. Excellence isn’t a choice for Carle anymore. It has become habitual.

It probably will not be long before we see him making a habit of it at the highest levels of the sport.

FloHockey's Coverage Of Team USA At The WJC

FloHockey is providing comprehensive editorial and video coverage of the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship. With a team of content creators on site and leading WJC analyst Chris Peters providing stories and columns throughout the event, make FloHockey your home to learn more about the 2025 World Juniors. FloHockey will be following Team USA and Team Canada closely, while tracking the rest of the tournament on site. See all the stories here.

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