Therien's Take: Two Different Types of Conditioning

Another week has passed in the lifecycle of the 2019-20 NHL season. The Stanley Cup Playoffs -- with the Flyers prominently involved as a likely home-ice team in the first round -- would have started this week if not for the global Covid-19 epidemic. That is a stark reminder of exactly what is stake as the delay grows longer and longer for reasons beyond anyone's control in the League.

Right now, it is still premature to play out any of the rumored formats for completing the season and awarding the Stanley Cup. Before any of that is possible, we have to get to a point where sports can return to an indoor venue where it is both safe for the fans (if it is, in fact, feasible to have people in the stands) and for everybody involved in the event. That is the bottom line.

Assuming we get to a point where that much-welcomed news is announced, a new schedule will have to be generated. Players will have to return from their hometowns and countries and reunite quickly. Every team will have to undergo a training camp before there are any games played.

Looking at this from the standpoint of a former NHL player, the hurdle to getting game ready grows higher the lengthier the lag time between the last time someone skated and the start of a training camp.

With rinks closed around North America and accessibility to off-ice workout routines varying from player to player, I have some concerns about the conditioning of players. Let me clarify that.

There are two different types of conditioning. One is physical fitness. The other is hockey game-readiness.

I'm not all that concerned about the physical fitness aspect. Most current-day hockey players know how to keep themselves physically fit over an off-season, Even those who have fairly limited workout resources during the pause can get themselves back close to their usual general fitness level in quick order so long as they continue to eat the right foods, get the right rest, and maintain as active of a workout schedule as they can manage for their circumstances.

The latter type of conditioning is what concerns me. There is no way to simulate the demands of playing hockey, and the longer someone goes without skating, the more the risk of groin pulls and other soft-tissue injuries if they try to push too hard and too soon.

If the pause ends up being additional months of self-quarantine and social distancing, I'm not sure what kind of conditioning level players are going to be able to stay in without on-ice activities.

I'll speak from personal experience here. To get ready for training camps, I've spent countless hours running during the summer, or bicycling along with a weight circuit. Even so, it did not matter the first week when I took the ice
In camp. Honing your skating legs and skating lungs are different than anything else you could possibly imagine doing in the training process for hockey.

There is no substitute. Your body will never have an opportunity to get instant gratification on the ice from the hard work the summers have given you off the ice. It's going to take some time to recover that type of conditioning.

That being said, and with everything factored in, if the National Hockey League and your Philadelphia Flyers can get back to work, I believe it will take a bare minimum of a 7-to-10 day mini camp or training camp to get guys back to some semblance of hockey shape. Sven days is pretty ambitious even after six weeks off-ice. The longer the absence of skating continues, the longer the time I'd estimate is needed. So, for now, let's go with a 10-day estimate to do a work-up to be ready to play again.

Even with that, the conditioning level of the players in early March will never be
able to be recreated come game one of the season resumption. That standard is gone, and will take time to work up to again.

Secondly, it is impossible to simply snap your fingers -- no matter who your coach is, no matter how much talent or chemistry exists on your team -- and pick right back up where you left off before an extended break between games.
Every team is going to be different because of this long layoff.

Quite frankly, at least for a little while, everyone is going to be on a level playing field. Even in the course of a normal season, you see some of this. Sometimes, the best time to play an "elite" opponent is very early in the season before they get cranking.

This current situation, though, is rather unique because it will even more of a wildcard as to how the layoff affects any one club. We'll get a little bit of sharpness back in the players' games, like pass-and-shoot chemistry and breakout crispness -- which the Flyers had tons of during the last 26 games before the pause -- but how quickly will it approach "A" game level? That chemistry cannot be replicated overnight.

That being said, a fast-paced camp for a short period of time will help enhance the product in the short term. But I would be surprised if ANY team comes out looking in mid-season form off the bat, much less where they'd ideally like to come the stretch drive and playoffs.

Don't underestimate these factors. If and when hockey returns this season, I fully expect upset; possibly even some major ones if the playoffs are expanded beyond eight teams per conference.

The great unknown continues. One thing you can bank on: I'll be back next Friday for another "Therien's Take."