Inside Brandon Montour’s Pre-Game Regimen 

Kraken defenseman Brandon Montour and Nate Mitton met as Junior B hockey players. They both aspired to play in the NHL. They both were the type of guys who never wanted to show they were tired or winded. They both were adamant about being the guy who outworked everyone in the gym.  

Mitton is laughing over the phone from an Edmonton hotel where he and the Florida Panthers stayed to play the Oilers last Wednesday night.  

“I guess we had to be the two guys instead of one,” said Mitton, who played pro hockey in the ECHL and is currently the assistant strength coach for Florida. “We played together in Brantford [Ontario]. Monty was 16 and I was 17. The first day we met was in a summer workout before our season. Two young kids in a spin class. My mentality is I'm gonna outwork everybody and really just try to kill it on the bike. I looked over, I saw Monty trying to kill it on the bike. Afterward, the class instructor said there was a boxing workout next, if anyone wanted to join. Monty and I were the only two players that said yes. We’ve been the best of friends ever since.” 

The two buddies collaborated on workouts over two junior seasons together, especially targeting a pre-game warmup that has morphed into Montour’s current regimen before every Kraken matchup. For most of us, the 31-year-old’s routine 90 minutes before the start of each game  would most definitely classify as a full-body workout. 

“I've been moving since I was five years old,” said Montour, grinning while carrying out a medicine ball, step platform, assorted resistance bands and a liter bottle of water to a pristine back hallway at Climate Pledge Arena before a recent home game. “I feel like the longer I enjoy doing [the warmup], the longer I keep my body in peak condition. I keep getting older and older, you know?”

The only answer to that query is that he doesn’t look old on the ice.  

“Well, we'll be talking hopefully in eight, nine years,” said Montour, smiling again. “And that I'm still playing looking like I'm not tired.” 

Nate Brookreson, the Kraken’s head strength and conditioning coach, challenges anyone to identify a faster and more all-directions mobile NHL defenseman than Montour. Kraken GM Jason Botterill concurs the fan favorite never looks fatigued on the ice.  

“He's a true professional,” said Botterill. “You watch him out there, it looks like he can just skate forever.” 

Time to Work Up a Sweat 

Before Montour meets up with Brookreson at the standard 75 minutes before puck drop, the Kraken D-man joins a regular group of teammates in a spirited circle that keeps a soccer ball suspended in the air by using their  feet or heads, but no hands. He’s in on the fun competition for about 10 minutes before joining Brookreson down the hallway, which serves as a long enough runway for sprints and other moves. Kraken staffers using a conference room for game presentation purposes clearly know to look both ways before exiting or entering their room.  

Brookreson provided a list detailing  Montour’s extended 15- to 20-minute session, which he and Montour have memorized. The series of movements include nine to 12 specific exercises performed while zipping up and down the corridor to concentrate on each of three areas: dynamic movement, lateral speed and linear speed.

The regimen is a whirlwind of moving exercises such as “quad pull,” “lunge and rotate,” “backward lunge and rotate” (ouch is a first reaction of an observer) and “hip circles” (while moving!?).  

Those are just some of the opening dynamic sets. Lateral speed drills are next, including “lateral bound cross in front” (plus a second one to cross in back), “open the gate” and “close the gate” (just like it sounds but while sprinting). Plus, a personal favorite from the Jane Fonda era of step aerobics, the “carioca “ and “high-knee carioca” with Brazilian roots in samba crossover dance moves.  

The third set, linear speed, covers “multidirectional pogos” (as in the stick), “skip for height and distance,” a ladder series of “slalom/Icky shuffle plus sprint” and “hip swivel, react to football” drills. Brookreson serves as  QB for the Kraken’s power play quarterback, throwing the football to a space that requires Montour looking over his opposite shoulder and timing the catch.  

All of which is apropos because a recurring thought watching Montour bound, leap, stretch, accelerate and break into a tacky sweat is this guy is flashing skills that could place him in a dance company (think Alvin Ailey), Broadway show (“Cats,” “West Side Story”) or an Olympic decathlon (conjuring Daley Thompson, Ashton Eaton). Oh, and from the looks of the hip swivel drill, Montour could well prosper as a slot receiver in the NFL.  

Have Warm-Up Regimen, Will Travel 

Montour brought his pre-game regimen with him when he signed as a Stanley Cup-winning free agent in the summer of 2024. Some of the moves reach back to his junior days with Mitton (“it started with a couple of dynamic moves and we would watch lacrosse for ideas,” said Mitton). Brookreson has modified and added some elements. 

“Monty is such an efficient mover,” said Brookreson. “He's got natural pop. He's a fast-twitch athlete. Anything that is quick off the ground, big pushes, he does so well. He makes it look effortless. He's got a sort of track background understanding about how to sprint and perform the bounds. It’s second nature to him.” 

Montour confirms: “I do a lot of track stuff in the summer, especially did so growing up.” 

When Montour was with the Panthers, he inspired more than a half-dozen teammates to replicate his routine. With Seattle, he won over the team’s young first-round draft choice centers, Matty Beniers, Shane Wright and Berkly Catton. The trio has all incorporated some of Montour’s regimen. They fill a slot of time with Brookreson after Montour is finished.

Both Montour and Brookreson point out former Kraken winger Tye Kartye was an avid follower of the routine before the New York Rangers claimed the undrafted forward on waivers. Before going to treatment, Montour spends another seven to nine minutes using his medicine ball and resistance bands for additional stretching and core muscle activation.  

Having the Last Laugh 

Montour’s pre-game routine didn’t change or reduce from its norm despite the Kraken having played and won in Vancouver the night before. This ensuing game’s puck drop was an earlier than usual 5 p.m. Brookreson is a proponent of Kraken players sticking to their usual warmups as a way to gauge if their bodies feel any differently, for better or worse, before suiting up for the night’s game.  

“One of the crucial parts of warmups, especially in the NHL, in my opinion, is once you have a routine, you use it as a check-in,” said Brookreson, who trained Olympic sports athletes at NCAA North Carolina State before joining the expansion Kraken. “Staying consistent to that routine is important because you start to understand your body’s status on game days.” 

Montour didn’t back off one lunge or crossover step in his routine. The work clearly paid dividends in the Seattle win. He earned an assist and logged a team-high 23 minutes of ice time, including one shift lasting three minutes and 23 seconds when continuous play in the Kraken end prevented heading to the bench for a sub.  

Montour’s good friend, Mitton, from Junior B days, was nearby and couldn’t help but smile during that extraordinarily long hockey shift.  

“Monty can get to a certain point, he doesn't really even know what tired is anymore,” said Mitton, “because you've just convinced yourself that feeling is something else ... so when Monty gets back to the bench after the three-and-a-half-minute shift, he's not catching his breath, he’s laughing.”