The Coaches Room is a regular feature throughout the 2025-26 season by former NHL coaches and assistants who turn their critical gaze to the game and explain it through the lens of a teacher. In this edition, Drew Bannister, former coach of the St. Louis Blues and Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League, and defenseman with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Edmonton Oilers, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and New York Rangers, explains how coaches and players might work together to survive the condensed schedule prior to the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.
I don't think the condensed schedule is something the casual reader or fan thinks a lot about leading into some of those breaks and knowing where a player's head might be at the time of the break. I think it's probably different from team to team, and I've had different experiences at the junior level, the American Hockey League level and recently the NHL level.
You hear a lot of coaches talking about it today with how condensed it's been from the start of the season in October regarding practice times and with getting the proper rest for players while also trying to get them on the ice. I think there's a lot of sports science that goes into that, along with communication between the doctors, the coaches, the trainers and the medical team. There's a lot of conversations happening, but I think in a year like this or a year like last year, when we had the 4 Nations Face-Off with a more condensed schedule at the start, you need to make sure your players are rested going into the games. Rest becomes a priority for coaches and the staff even more than getting them on the ice for a pregame skate.
Maybe there's a day you can skate and maybe there's a day you're looking for time off for the players. I think the priority is always getting the proper rest so you're not running into injuries and you're able to maintain things a little bit more.
When it comes to morning skates and practices, I think when things are going well, coaches have a tendency to say, "Things are good and rest is a priority." When things turn and you're going through a tough patch, you always feel a need to be working on things, but I think coaches are getting better at it, recognizing that maybe rest is better at this time instead of putting the guys on the ice. As much as you want to have them on the ice, whether it's a 15-20-minute skate to go through things or give them extra touches, if the execution isn't there, it just becomes harder for the coaches.
But coaches are always going to do right by the players and sometimes rest is the right thing to do despite how much you want to be on the ice. I think you're always going to deviate to make sure players get the right rest, which gives them the best opportunity to come out fresh and win hockey games. You don't want to put yourself in a position where you could overtax players with those practices because then you could be faced with injury problems in the not-too-distant future.
When it comes to players, the break is their time, and I don't think you can really dictate it. They're all professionals going into that break of a month-and-a-half, so when you come back, you're in the stretch run and they understand points and games are important.
I think there's a good understanding in the dressing room with the players in what it means when they come back. In my short time with the St Louis Blues, we had the All-Star break, and we had a Christmas break ... I wasn't there for the 4 Nations Face-Off break. I think the players always touch base with the trainers when they leave and if it's therapy they might need, what they can do when they're away.
Certainly, there are workout schedules that could be done. A lot of players are going to be traveling but they always have access to a gym. I think that's pretty programmed into their daily schedule. They know what they want to do on a day-to-day basis and even though they're away from the rink, they find time to get into the gym to keep their bodies at a point where when they step back on the ice, it's not going to take them too long to return to feeling good. They'll probably only need two or three practices before they're up and ready to go again.
I never played on a team with a condensed schedule, other than maybe the NHL All-Star break, because at the time I was playing, the NHL players weren't going to the Winter Olympics. It was pretty normal back then and not necessarily as condensed as what we saw last year with the 4 Nations and now with the Olympic breaks.
