Using Technology
With advancements in technology, professional sports teams have the ability to track how players are doing to a whole new level. Coaches work with their training staff to narrow down how the team is doing on a daily basis. From there it can influence how much a group practices or when they give the players a break.
"It's something we're in constant communication with our fitness crew," Ruff explained. "How hard practice should be. You measure the strength of all the players weekly or biweekly so you get an indicatino where the energy level is with your team. When that starts to drop, you know that you have to back off, that based on levels from last year, we've been able to keep our team in a pretty good place.
"You'd like to practice," Ruff also shared. "I thought some of our execution, our puck play, which usually comes from practicing, was off last night. But then you risk the fact that you're going to have everybody use a certain amount of energy that maybe could be saved for these next couple of games."
Sometimes, you have to put the numbers aside and practice, but it's all about balance for the Devils.
"There is a balance," Ruff said Wednesday. "Some days it's hard to go with the balance and there's days where we've said no, we're going on the ice and you try to put it in a situation where let's get something out of it, but not make it too hard."
