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NHL 2023-2024 Out of Town: Regular Season III

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NHL training tips: The value of postgame bench presses, squats and weighted pushups​

Fluto Shinzawa
Feb 24, 2024
81
Charlie Coyle was tired. He had played 19:21 in the Boston Bruins’ 4-3 overtime win over the St. Louis Blues. It was the Bruins’ fourth road game in six days. All four had gone to overtime or shootout. Coyle was in his fourth different time zone of the week. The game ended at 10:39 p.m. Eastern time.
But after the Jan. 13 win, Coyle left the Bruins’ Enterprise Center dressing room, turned right down the hallway and entered the visitors’ workout space on the left. Coyle sweated his way through a rotation of weighted pushups, side planks, cable rows and work with a stability ball to stimulate his hamstrings.
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“It’s nothing crazy,” the 6-foot-3, 218-pound Coyle said. “Yeah, you’re tired. Yeah. But you still want to keep your strength. Because you’ve got to maintain your strength. Otherwise, you’re going to lose it.”
You would think that reaching for a slice of postgame pizza would occur more often than pulling 50-pound dumbbells off the rack. Sports science, however, has determined that the time after a game is a productive window for players to pump iron — even if it makes family members check their watches.
“When my dad first started coming out to see me, he’s like, ‘Why does it take you so long after the game?’” said the Calgary Flames’ Kevin Rooney, of father Dave. “I’m like, ‘I’m lifting.’ He’s like, ‘You lift weights after the game?’”
Squats, deadlifts and bench presses are pillars of Rooney’s postgame routine.

Maintenance plan​

Rick Tocchet played in 1,144 NHL games. Part of his longevity may have been his commitment to postgame lifting. He was not fighting off teammates in the weight room.
“I was a little bit of a freak when it came to that,” said the Vancouver Canucks coach, whose playing career concluded in 2001-02.
Most of Tocchet’s peers considered summer to be weightlifting season. That has not changed.
Today’s players are in the gym for hours daily during the offseason. High-volume lifting to forge head-to-toe sturdiness is mandatory for the season-long abuse that awaits.
That all changes once the game light turns green.
Eighty-two dates within a minimum of 184 days does not promote regular off-ice lifting sessions. Rest is imperative.
But as critical as recovery is, physical maintenance is just as important. The intensity of game action does not address muscular upkeep. The player who fails to retain strength during the season will be shriveled come the playoffs.
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“If you’re working on shooting in practice or lifting a little extra weights, my mindset is that you put it in your own bank,” said the Bruins’ Hampus Lindholm. “You never really know when it’s going to be taken out. But it’s going to be in there somewhere. It’s a long season. We play a lot of games. So the more you put in your bank, the better.”
The trick is to find good in-season segments for lifting. They happen less frequently than you’d think.
Consider the Canucks’ five-game, eight-day February road trip. It started in Raleigh, N.C. It concluded in Chicago. This left the Canucks little time to practice, let alone lift.
If, for example, the Canucks prescribed a day in the weight room following their Feb. 11 tilt against the Washington Capitals, they’d be at risk of being compromised for the Feb. 13 game against the Chicago Blackhawks. So on Feb. 8, Conor Garland planned to lift after the Canucks’ 4-0 loss against the Bruins.
“It’s just a small one. There’s nobody smashing weights,” said the 5-foot-10, 165-pound forward. “Just a couple sets. It feels good. You’ve got to keep your strength up. Because guys around the league are, too.”
Teams also have to consider the collectively bargained four days off per month. Scheduling dilemmas are common in sports science departments around the league.
“It would be easy to look at the schedule and say, ‘All right, the players aren’t going to be recovered. So we shouldn’t train. We should allow them extra time to recover,’” said Bruins head performance coach Kevin Neeld. “Then the next day, maybe you’re saying the same thing. Then the next day, it’s a day off. Then the next day, it’s a game day. And what happens is if you take that mindset, you can have these really prolonged stretches of time — certainly one, at times two or three weeks — where there’s really no ideal training opportunity.”
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Performance coaches like Neeld fear these red-flag segments. Players who do not train can come up short in puck races they used to win. Opponents they once buried might overpower them in the corners. They put themselves at risk of injury. Team performance suffers.
Not only that, a player with weeks between lifting sessions could compromise on-ice play the day after he hits the gym. Even pro athletes feel aches and pains if enough time has passed between sessions.
“You’re more sore,” Neeld said. “You’re stiffer. You’re more tired than you would be once you get acclimated to going through whatever that type of training stimulus is. So we’re conscious of minimizing soreness throughout the season. Sometimes that means, even under less than ideal circumstances, just getting in a low-volume training session as a touch point. So if we have a really good opportunity to train in a week, they haven’t not been exposed to that stimulus for two or three weeks at a time.”
As counterintuitive as it may seem, postgame is an efficient weightlifting window. Every NHL arena is required to offer a workout space for visiting teams.
“Just to cool down,” said the Colorado Avalanche’s Miles Wood. “Get the heart rate back. Just feel good about the next day. Because you’re sore. You want to move around. You don’t want to be stiff for the night.”

How it works​

Nobody disputes the need for prompt postgame recovery. But it is not easy for players to return to baseline after a game.
Their muscles are warm. They are full of excitatory hormones. They are sharp mentally.
All of this sets up a good workout.
“Even if their sole goal was to just wind down and fall asleep as fast as possible,” Neeld said, “there’s still a window of time when they first get off the ice that their body is coming down from that.”
ADVERTISEMENT

Neeld devises postgame sessions that usually consist of three or four exercises. He prescribes three sets, with increasing load each time, per exercise. The rotation lasts approximately 12 minutes.
“We’re not performing multiple sets to failure or higher rep ranges where there would be a prolonged recovery window from the training session itself,” Neeld said. “For the most part, guys leave feeling the same or better than they did when they first walked in. There’s a little bit of an effect where you feel stronger. But you’re not sore the next day from those types of lifts.”
The benefit of a postgame lift compounds in the segment that follows. If, for example, there’s a day off between games, it can be used as a complete rest window. That way, players can be fresher for the subsequent game instead of recovering from lifting.
Postgame lifting also has long-term benefits. The 82-game marathon grinds everyone down. The team that can keep wear and tear at stick’s length is better positioned for the playoffs. The trick is to balance maintaining strength and promoting recovery.
“Certainly in this organization, there’s not just aspirations but an expectation that we’re playing in the postseason,” Neeld said. “If you focus too much on de-loading and minimizing fatigue at the expense of training opportunities throughout the year, the reality is you’re going to enter the most important stretch of the season where your speed might be down a little bit. Your strength might be down a little bit. Your muscle mass and body comp maybe shifted in a negative direction. It’s a challenge to continue to prioritize these things throughout the season. But it’s important if you want to enter the postseason at your peak.”
(Graphic: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic, with photos from Dave Sandford and Jeff Vinnick / Getty Images and iStock)
Fluto Shinzawa

Fluto Shinzawa is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Boston Bruins. He has covered the team since 2006, formerly as a staff writer for The Boston Globe. Follow Fluto on Twitter @flutoshinzawa


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dugg133 said:
I know he's big, but Rempe is not nearly a good enough fighter to be going with all these heavyweights.
Click to expand...
Kid thinks that he can just stand in there and chuck em because he’s tall. He’s not a very good fighter and there are many guys in the league who are smaller than him who outclass him in technique and experience. He got concussed tonight, for sure. To a guy who gave up 6 inches and 35 lbs to him, no less.
 
1) I'm a tad conflicted over Matt Rempe. Sure, I enjoyed the throwback vibe of his heavyweight fights. On the other hand, they did seem kinda pointless. From the pregame discussion between he and Deslauriers, one could even call that fight "staged."

2) Speaking of throwbacks, how can Cindy Crawford put one in from center ice through a shooter-tutor, while Pastrnak and Marchand have trouble with an empty net inside the blue line? Kidding aside, I was a huge Cindy Crawford fan growing up. My sisters got all the fashion magazines, had her workout vids, etc. In hindsight, she projected a strong, healthy image and was also intelligent. Seeing her today was an awesome blast from the past.

3) I have ties to Philly and am a Travis Konecny fan; so I loosely follow the Flyers. I like the approach they are taking toward the TDL. They aren't throwing in the towel, but they are thinking long term. They aren't going to dump producing players, but they are listening to offers.

4) Cal Petersen, called up with the departure of Carter Hart, let in 7, some of which were ugly.

5) Pat Kane scoring on a breakaway in overtime couldn't have been scripted any better. They should've played Chelsea Dagger. The crowd would've loved it.

6) Thank you @GordonHowe for sharing that article. As an athlete myself, I find that sort information fascinating. I also think some fans don't appreciate how hard these guys work off the ice. We see them show up in their snazzy suits, watch them play the game, but there is SO much more. I recall Jaromir Jagr logged hours in the gym after games. I can't imagine bench pressing after a game. Oh, and Kevin Neeld is great; he does a training segment in some B's videos.

7) I've said in the GDTs I have mad respect for Conor Garland. But no way he's 5'10!
 
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GordonHowe said:

NHL training tips: The value of postgame bench presses, squats and weighted pushups​

Fluto Shinzawa
Feb 24, 2024
81
Charlie Coyle was tired. He had played 19:21 in the Boston Bruins’ 4-3 overtime win over the St. Louis Blues. It was the Bruins’ fourth road game in six days. All four had gone to overtime or shootout. Coyle was in his fourth different time zone of the week. The game ended at 10:39 p.m. Eastern time.
But after the Jan. 13 win, Coyle left the Bruins’ Enterprise Center dressing room, turned right down the hallway and entered the visitors’ workout space on the left. Coyle sweated his way through a rotation of weighted pushups, side planks, cable rows and work with a stability ball to stimulate his hamstrings.
ADVERTISEMENT

“It’s nothing crazy,” the 6-foot-3, 218-pound Coyle said. “Yeah, you’re tired. Yeah. But you still want to keep your strength. Because you’ve got to maintain your strength. Otherwise, you’re going to lose it.”
You would think that reaching for a slice of postgame pizza would occur more often than pulling 50-pound dumbbells off the rack. Sports science, however, has determined that the time after a game is a productive window for players to pump iron — even if it makes family members check their watches.
“When my dad first started coming out to see me, he’s like, ‘Why does it take you so long after the game?’” said the Calgary Flames’ Kevin Rooney, of father Dave. “I’m like, ‘I’m lifting.’ He’s like, ‘You lift weights after the game?’”
Squats, deadlifts and bench presses are pillars of Rooney’s postgame routine.

Maintenance plan​

Rick Tocchet played in 1,144 NHL games. Part of his longevity may have been his commitment to postgame lifting. He was not fighting off teammates in the weight room.
“I was a little bit of a freak when it came to that,” said the Vancouver Canucks coach, whose playing career concluded in 2001-02.
Most of Tocchet’s peers considered summer to be weightlifting season. That has not changed.
Today’s players are in the gym for hours daily during the offseason. High-volume lifting to forge head-to-toe sturdiness is mandatory for the season-long abuse that awaits.
That all changes once the game light turns green.
Eighty-two dates within a minimum of 184 days does not promote regular off-ice lifting sessions. Rest is imperative.
But as critical as recovery is, physical maintenance is just as important. The intensity of game action does not address muscular upkeep. The player who fails to retain strength during the season will be shriveled come the playoffs.
ADVERTISEMENT

“If you’re working on shooting in practice or lifting a little extra weights, my mindset is that you put it in your own bank,” said the Bruins’ Hampus Lindholm. “You never really know when it’s going to be taken out. But it’s going to be in there somewhere. It’s a long season. We play a lot of games. So the more you put in your bank, the better.”
The trick is to find good in-season segments for lifting. They happen less frequently than you’d think.
Consider the Canucks’ five-game, eight-day February road trip. It started in Raleigh, N.C. It concluded in Chicago. This left the Canucks little time to practice, let alone lift.
If, for example, the Canucks prescribed a day in the weight room following their Feb. 11 tilt against the Washington Capitals, they’d be at risk of being compromised for the Feb. 13 game against the Chicago Blackhawks. So on Feb. 8, Conor Garland planned to lift after the Canucks’ 4-0 loss against the Bruins.
“It’s just a small one. There’s nobody smashing weights,” said the 5-foot-10, 165-pound forward. “Just a couple sets. It feels good. You’ve got to keep your strength up. Because guys around the league are, too.”
Teams also have to consider the collectively bargained four days off per month. Scheduling dilemmas are common in sports science departments around the league.
“It would be easy to look at the schedule and say, ‘All right, the players aren’t going to be recovered. So we shouldn’t train. We should allow them extra time to recover,’” said Bruins head performance coach Kevin Neeld. “Then the next day, maybe you’re saying the same thing. Then the next day, it’s a day off. Then the next day, it’s a game day. And what happens is if you take that mindset, you can have these really prolonged stretches of time — certainly one, at times two or three weeks — where there’s really no ideal training opportunity.”
ADVERTISEMENT

Performance coaches like Neeld fear these red-flag segments. Players who do not train can come up short in puck races they used to win. Opponents they once buried might overpower them in the corners. They put themselves at risk of injury. Team performance suffers.
Not only that, a player with weeks between lifting sessions could compromise on-ice play the day after he hits the gym. Even pro athletes feel aches and pains if enough time has passed between sessions.
“You’re more sore,” Neeld said. “You’re stiffer. You’re more tired than you would be once you get acclimated to going through whatever that type of training stimulus is. So we’re conscious of minimizing soreness throughout the season. Sometimes that means, even under less than ideal circumstances, just getting in a low-volume training session as a touch point. So if we have a really good opportunity to train in a week, they haven’t not been exposed to that stimulus for two or three weeks at a time.”
As counterintuitive as it may seem, postgame is an efficient weightlifting window. Every NHL arena is required to offer a workout space for visiting teams.
“Just to cool down,” said the Colorado Avalanche’s Miles Wood. “Get the heart rate back. Just feel good about the next day. Because you’re sore. You want to move around. You don’t want to be stiff for the night.”

How it works​

Nobody disputes the need for prompt postgame recovery. But it is not easy for players to return to baseline after a game.
Their muscles are warm. They are full of excitatory hormones. They are sharp mentally.
All of this sets up a good workout.
“Even if their sole goal was to just wind down and fall asleep as fast as possible,” Neeld said, “there’s still a window of time when they first get off the ice that their body is coming down from that.”
ADVERTISEMENT

Neeld devises postgame sessions that usually consist of three or four exercises. He prescribes three sets, with increasing load each time, per exercise. The rotation lasts approximately 12 minutes.
“We’re not performing multiple sets to failure or higher rep ranges where there would be a prolonged recovery window from the training session itself,” Neeld said. “For the most part, guys leave feeling the same or better than they did when they first walked in. There’s a little bit of an effect where you feel stronger. But you’re not sore the next day from those types of lifts.”
The benefit of a postgame lift compounds in the segment that follows. If, for example, there’s a day off between games, it can be used as a complete rest window. That way, players can be fresher for the subsequent game instead of recovering from lifting.
Postgame lifting also has long-term benefits. The 82-game marathon grinds everyone down. The team that can keep wear and tear at stick’s length is better positioned for the playoffs. The trick is to balance maintaining strength and promoting recovery.
“Certainly in this organization, there’s not just aspirations but an expectation that we’re playing in the postseason,” Neeld said. “If you focus too much on de-loading and minimizing fatigue at the expense of training opportunities throughout the year, the reality is you’re going to enter the most important stretch of the season where your speed might be down a little bit. Your strength might be down a little bit. Your muscle mass and body comp maybe shifted in a negative direction. It’s a challenge to continue to prioritize these things throughout the season. But it’s important if you want to enter the postseason at your peak.”
(Graphic: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic, with photos from Dave Sandford and Jeff Vinnick / Getty Images and iStock)
Fluto Shinzawa

Fluto Shinzawa is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Boston Bruins. He has covered the team since 2006, formerly as a staff writer for The Boston Globe. Follow Fluto on Twitter @flutoshinzawa


COM
Click to expand...


I subscribe to The Athletic and Fluto does a lot of great behind-the-scenes stuff, from what deadline days are like to NHLers' sleep patterns, etc.


theathletic.com

NHL sleep tips: How players wind down after a day designed to keep them up

Pro sports are designed for poor sleep, but rest is mandatory for good play. From dog walks to mattress temp, here's how NHLers pull it off.
theathletic.com theathletic.com
 
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dugg133 said:
I know he's big, but Rempe is not nearly a good enough fighter to be going with all these heavyweights.
Click to expand...
Agreed and when he was interviewed after his fight with Deslaurier he stated he loves it. Basically that was a call for all combatants to come calling. Dangerous move, but thats why he's in the NHL.
 
Terrier said:
I subscribe to The Athletic and Fluto does a lot of great behind-the-scenes stuff, from what deadline days are like to NHLers' sleep patterns, etc.


theathletic.com

NHL sleep tips: How players wind down after a day designed to keep them up

Pro sports are designed for poor sleep, but rest is mandatory for good play. From dog walks to mattress temp, here's how NHLers pull it off.
theathletic.com theathletic.com
Click to expand...

Not particularly a fan, but he does find interesting bits others don't. I read the sleep tips article. Both of these subjects are so crucial to the lives of today's NHLers. I'm very glad that teams recognize the importance of good sleep and strength conditioning. I always think of Z on the bike after a grueling game.
 

I'm not certain what to make of this Rempe goon -- which is what he is -- or whether I approve of his antics. That was a brutal, ugly fight. To me, it was sickening. And he fed NJ's Bastion an elbow to the face at some speed. ​

You look at Trouba and this scary character. Then you look at the Bruins, who don't scare anyone. I mean, no one in the NHL.

I just shake my head.

​

Flyers’ Nicolas Deslauriers initiates fight of the year contender: ‘An absolute animal’​

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - FEBRUARY 24: Nicolas Deslauriers #44 of the Philadelphia Flyers reacts after receiving a fighting major during the first period against the New York Rangers at the Wells Fargo Center on February 24, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)

By Kevin Kurz
Feb 24, 2024
50
PHILADELPHIA — It’s not a given anymore, like it has been previously, that Nicolas Deslauriers will be in the Philadelphia Flyers’ lineup. In a 10-game stretch sandwiched around the All-Star break, Deslauriers was a healthy scratch for six of them.
But there wasn’t much doubt he’d be in on Saturday at Wells Fargo Center against the New York Rangers, with the towering Matt Rempe on the other side. It didn’t take long for the two tough guys to drop the gloves, either, as they staged what might have been the fight of the NHL season so far just three minutes into the opening frame of the Rangers’ eventual 2-1 win.
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It was about 60 seconds of pure mayhem. Each tough guy landed blows, and neither was willing to surrender.
The 6-foot-1, 218-pound Deslauriers initiated it with the Rempe, 6-7, 241, who was playing in just his fourth NHL game and had already been in one controversy when he bloodied up New Jersey’s Nathan Bastian with a hard check in a game against the Devils on Thursday.


“I saw him kind of lurking in the warm-ups,” Deslauriers said. “I’m a guy that doesn’t take no for an answer often, so just went (to him) politely and said, ‘Are we going to do this?’ And, there it is.”
Said Rempe: “He asked me in warmups. Real tough customer, again, and I said, ‘Hell yeah, let’s go.’ We were throwing bombs, a long fight. It was awesome. Got the juices flowing. It was unreal.”
The linesmen seemed content to let the fight conclude organically. Deslauriers, who was much worse for wear after the bout than Rempe was, didn’t have any issue with that.
“I’ve been asked this question a lot, it happened to me a couple times, when the helmets come off, they come in,” he said. “I get the full concussion protocols, if somebody falls and everything. We were two grown men trying to do our job and I think we respect each other well. … I think they did a good job. It was a long one, and it was fun.”
Flyers coach John Tortorella summed it up succinctly: “That’s a good old-fashioned hockey fight.”
For Deslauriers, it was his 50th game this season. He’s still looking for his first goal, to go with three assists and 77 penalty minutes. It’s only a recent development that he’s come out of the lineup from time to time, as he played in each of the Flyers’ first 36 games of the season through Dec. 31.
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Like any hockey player, he doesn’t enjoy watching. But, he understands that the Flyers have overachieved this season, and his particular set of skills might not always be needed.
“It’s a complete different year,” he said. “Yes, we are young and everything, but we’re playing well. We’ve put ourselves in this spot, and no offense, I know at the age I am there’s going to be some nights I’m not in. It’s easy when you win and you have a good group of guys like this. Not lying, it sucks not playing, but at the same time when you have success and the ultimate goal is to push ourselves to make the playoffs — whatever it takes, I’m always ready.”
Tortorella has said previously this season that it’s not easy to take Deslauriers, who is immensely popular with his teammates, out of the lineup. The 33-year-old is a big part of the dressing room that the coach has labeled as a key to the team’s rebuild being ahead of schedule.
“He’s a big part of our chemistry,” Tortorella said. “He does what he has to do, how he prepares for a game, what he’s probably going to have to do each and every game. I think the guys respect him. The coaching staff certainly does. It’s a huge part of camaraderie with him.”
Scott Laughton, who said he had a “front row seat” for the fight, echoed his coach.
“That stuff goes a long way throughout a room,” Laughton said. “I don’t know if I played with a tougher guy than that. Him and (Wayne Simmonds) were neck and neck there, but D-Lo is all about the boys. I’ve got so much, so much respect for him.”
Goalie Sam Ersson, who made 22 saves, said: “He’s an absolute animal, warrior out there for us. I wouldn’t want to fight him.”
Although the Flyers lost, it wasn’t because of a lack of effort or energy. Missing leading scorer Travis Konecny with an upper-body injury, the Flyers outshot the Rangers 41-24. Tyson Foerster tied the score early in the third period, while Rempe’s redirection off of his foot about four minutes later — his first career NHL goal — proved to be the game-winner. The Rangers have won a franchise record 10 in a row.
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Still, the Flyers kept pushing in the third. Sean Couturier nearly tied it with five seconds left but pushed a backhand just wide.
“Controlled most of the play,” Laughton said. “Second period a little lull, but honestly we came out hard. We finished hard. Maybe a bounce here or there and it’s a tie game, so guys battled hard for each other tonight. Take a lot of positives out of it. Obviously, you want two points, but we stuck with it and we’ve got a big game (Sunday in Pittsburgh).”
Deslauriers will likely dress for that one, too. And he’s not going to change anything.
“I try to bring what I bring,” he said. “I know a lot of people are saying it’s getting out of the league, but I think it’s much needed in those circumstances. At the end of the day, we played a good game and were disappointed we didn’t get two points.”
(Photo of Nicolas Deslauriers: Tim Nwachukwu / Getty Images)
 
EverettMike said:
I mean, he won, for sure, but it looked like he ate some big time punches, too.
Click to expand...
That’s true. But Olivier was at a huge disadvantage in reach and damn near all his punches connected hard. Not to mention giving up 6 inches and 30-ish lbs. Didn’t expect that outcome, anyway.
 
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Weird stat tonight in the Caps 6-3 win over the Sens. Ovie was minus 3 and the worst Sens player was minus 2. Bergy would be cringing at the lack of back-checking or 200-foot game commitment.
 
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