While the dreaded ‘rope test’ is now banned, being in shape for NHL training camp is more important than ever
A shorter training camp means a larger emphasis on summer training in the gym and on the ice. "If you’re not in shape going into the season, you’re behind the eight-ball," said one player.
Hockey is built on lore.
“There was a time that players went to training camp to start training for the season and to get in shape,” said Matt Nichol, a strength and conditioning coach who has worked with countless NHLers, in a 2014 Gary Roberts Performance video.
This wasn’t everyone, to be clear, but back in the day, players had time to prepare for the rigors of a season once they arrived in their respective NHL cities for training camp.
» READ MORE: Flyers GM Danny Brière provides updates on Matvei Michkov and clarifies previous ‘step back’ comment
Since then, the science behind getting in shape has evolved, from how to train on and off the ice to nutrition. In the early 1990s, the mindset really shifted, as players began taking only a few short weeks off during the summer before getting right back in the gym and on the ice to prepare their bodies for what was to come.
And now there’s been another change.
With a new collective bargaining agreement that went into effect at midnight Tuesday, gone are the days of fitness testing, like measuring a player’s body fat or the dreaded “rope test” that former coach John Tortorella deployed on Day 1 to see where his players were physically.
And this year, training camp for the Flyers is condensed to just 11 days, counting from their first on-ice session at 8:45 a.m. Thursday in Voorhees, and ending with practice on Sept. 27. This is why team-style skating sessions started earlier, the ramping up of high-intensity workouts is occurring much earlier than in previous years, and why an emphasis — “a massive emphasis,” as one pro hockey coach said — has been put on doing the work in the summer because there is no time to ease back into things.
“Probably 10 years ago, you took a lot of time off the ice, and now more guys are skating earlier,” a veteran NHL defenseman told The Inquirer last season.
“... There’s still some heavy lifting throughout the week, but it’s not every day. It’s probably every other day, every two days, whatever the strength coaches think. And then towards the end, you ramp it up. You know, a little more power, speed work into the skates.”
» READ MORE: Matvei Michkov’s fitness, roster battles, and other story lines to follow as the Flyers begin training camp
Although the offseason work has been important for decades, it is even more critical now.
Last season there was much discord about Matvei Michkov’s fitness entering the season and how it impacted him throughout the year. He has acknowledged several times, including this summer in a Russian-language interview, that he did not prepare adequately for his sophomore campaign and came in with a high body-fat percentage. Based on social media posts, it looks like he’s put in the work.
“Everybody has a different path along the way,” Flyers general manager Danny Brière said on Tuesday, adding Michkov looks like he has “a different swagger” now. “But what I was excited to see was, I think his maturity level increased as the season went on. In the offseason, seeing him here, he’s got a pep in his step. He feels good. He looks good. So I’m excited about Matvei’s season.”
And everybody has a different focus every summer, based on their needs and age. As one veteran NHL forward nearing the end of his career told The Inquirer in February, when you’re younger, the goal is to teach your body to get stronger and have bigger gains. As you age, it’s about getting your body back to that strength and improving on it. No matter the age, conditioning is important, too.
“It doesn’t happen overnight, either. It’s developing those habits in the gym,” said Bryan Marshall, a longtime strength and conditioning coach who was recently named the New York Islanders director of player performance. Marshall has worked with plenty of NHLers, including Flyers defenseman Jamie Drysdale since he was 14 or 15.
“It’s not one magic summer that does anything. It’s more buying into a philosophy that for the next decade of your life, you have to make decisions that are aligned with your hockey goals.
“And I think that has more to do with it for Jamie, because what I’ve noticed over the years is he has one successful month after another in the summer, and then one successful summer after another. And the next thing you know, he’s developed so much more strength, so much more power, and he’s now got the capacity, I think, to sort of really showcase his talents, right? Because the rigors of an NHL season are pretty grueling.”
The usual plan in the gym for Drysdale over the summer, per the defenseman, who spoke to The Inquirer in April, is rigorous: Mondays and Wednesdays are power days, Tuesdays and Thursdays are strength days, and Friday is conditioning. He would focus on power, aerobic capacity on the bike or VersaClimber, ladder work, hip mobility with bands, and explosiveness, like with box jumps. Working with bands and box jumps are his two favorites.
He’ll also typically undergo a comprehensive power assessment with Marshall using force plates and other technology to understand how he produces power, including force and velocity. For Drysdale, he saw that as he got stronger, he got faster.
As one player said: “It never really stops. It’s a full-time job in the summer as well.” Added another: “If you’re not in shape going into the season, you’re behind the eight ball.”
Why? Because during the season, you cannot train the same as you do in the offseason.
The body needs time to rest and recuperate in between workouts, whether they come on the ice or in the gym. According to UCLA Health, the benefits of a rest day include giving the “body a chance to flush out that excess lactic acid so muscles feel less tired and sore,” and allowing the body to heal and strengthen muscles after intense exercise creates small tears.
It’s why, although he chipped away at it and worked out more often during the Olympic break, it was hard for Michkov to ever get into top conditioning shape last season after a poor start. The heavy work in the gym is done in the offseason because, as one former NHLer told The Inquirer, everyone starts at a certain level, but as the season wears on and the body builds endurance, it also breaks down, causing a player’s strength to drop.
“There are sacrifices you have to make. That maybe some of your other buddies [have things they] can do that you are, unfortunately, [unable] to do,” a current NHL forward said.
“But at the end of the day, I’m fortunate enough to play this game at a high level, and I love doing it, so I’m going to do whatever I can to make sure I put myself in the best position each year.”
