END NHL SEASON IF DELAY PERSISTS, SAYS TOP TRAINER
Inactive players won’t be able to regain fitness levels necessary to avoid injuries
It was on Monday when hockey trainer Dan Ninkovich received the first panicked text.
For the first few days of this indefinite hiatus, NHL players had been enjoying the time off as best as they could. They had banged-up bodies that needed rest after six months of playing hockey. So they rested. They sat around. They watched TV. They happily did nothing.
By Day 4, they were going stir crazy.
“Guys like time off, but even four days without skating and they start freaking out,” said Ninkovich, whose client list includes Connor Mcdavid, Quinn Hughes and Matt Duchene. “So you can imagine what eight weeks will do. It will be extremely hard for them to stay in shape. It’s not feasible to continue if it drags on and they don’t go on the ice in the next two or three weeks. It’s going to feel like a new season for them. I don’t see it. I just don’t see it.
“If it’s longer than two weeks, I’d call it quits.”
The spreading coronavirus has shut down hockey arenas and exercise facilities. The weather is now too warm to skate on outdoor ponds or backyard rinks. But NHL players, who are being told to stay home and self-isolate, still want to skate, to work out, to feel normal.
The problem is, they can’t do the things they normally would.
Hockey isn’t basketball. You can set up a net on your driveway and shoot pucks all day long. But even if you’re on rollerblades, there’s really nothing that substitutes for being on ice. It’s one of the reasons why an extended layoff — anything longer than four to six weeks — could threaten the return of the NHL this season.
“What are you going to do? Shoot pucks in the basement? You can practice off the ice, but nothing replicates a skating stride,” said Ninkovich. “It’s like a swimmer without a pool. There’s nothing like ice. Nothing. The problem is there’s no access to ice. If there was, then you could drag this out as long as you want.
“A week or two might do them good. But after that, you lose the feel. You’re going to see injuries pile up (if the NHL returns this season).”
If the NHL returns sometime in May, there is expected to be a mini-training camp to get players back to speed. It’s similar to when the league returned from the lockout in 2012-13. The difference is, back then players had been working out and scrimmaging, or had been playing actual games in the American Hockey League or in Europe.
This time, they’re literally sitting around.
“During the lockout, I had 40 guys here working out,” said Ninkovich. “It was fun. That was 60-plus days. But that was a different situation. There weren’t any health concerns. It’s not happening right now. They can’t participate in groups. They’re scared. They don’t want to risk anything.
“You’re under scrutiny from society, from family, from media. You want to stay out of everyone’s way. Right now, everybody is lost. How they’re going to stay in shape without ice is beyond me.”
If and when hockey does return, it won’t be the kind of hockey that you see at the start of the season. No one will be dipping his toe in the water and slowly getting up to speed. Teams will either be making a final push for the playoffs or be competing for a Stanley Cup.
The pace, intensity and physicality will be at the highest level.
“If it’s a best-case scenario in terms of timelines, then it’s conceivable that this could lead to better hockey,” said strength coach and nutritionist Matt Nichol, who trains everyone from Tyler Seguin and Wayne Simmonds to Jordan Binnington and Tom Wilson. “You’re giving these guys a chance to rest their bodies. But if this thing drags on for eight weeks or 10 weeks, then it’s seriously going to be detrimental to guys.”
It’s not just the lack of ice that’s become problematic. Today’s hockey player is a gym rat. While some might have home workout equipment, they don’t necessarily stay in shape by pumping iron. Hockey training is much more complicated than that. Players do dynamic exercises under the guidance and watchful eye of personal trainers to prevent injury.
Nichol made the decision to shut down his gym on Monday, even though it is equipped with a hospital grade air filtration system and limited to small groups. For players, who don’t know if they should be training to be ready for a month or two months from now, it put them in a difficult spot.
How should they stay in shape? What exercises should they do?
“My advice up until now is enjoy this time and get your sleep back and your body rested,” said Nichol. “But as this goes longer, it changes.”
It’s the older players who have the most to gain and the most to lose. A short break benefits someone like 40-year-old Patrick Marleau or 36-year-olds Jason Spezza and Ilya Kovalchuk, who are enjoying a sort of “load management” break. But the longer this hiatus goes on, the more difficult it will be to start up their older bodies again.
“If it’s a short-term layoff, the older guys are in a better spot,” said Nichol. “They can really benefit from a little bit of a rest. But when that rest stretches from days to weeks to months, it can be detrimental. It’s like an old Chevy that you don’t start for a while.
“It’s looking less and less realistic that we could have a season.”
Guys like time off, but even four days without skating and they start freaking out. So you can imagine what eight weeks will do. It will be extremely hard for them to stay in shape.