Agility, Teamwork Key Components For Creating Canucks' Training Programs

Making sure players' bodies and minds are ready to tackle the requirements of an NHL season involves a lot of planning by the Canucks training staff and tireless hours from the players. There's a different formula for every athlete in optimizing his performance to help them succeed.

Director of Sport Performance, Alex Trinca, says training is important, but it's just one piece of the fitness spectrum his team is responsible for managing.

"It'll be imperative that fitness is a focus for us through the entire season, and not just fitness, but managing fatigue as well with our travel schedule. Rick wants to play a more up-tempo style of game, and we're going to be practicing hard too."

Other goals like nutrition, sleep, supplementation, soft tissue recovery, sports psychology and mindset are also carefully considered and gone over by the staff to help players function at a high level.

Trinca says one of the most important things in a player's development is the integration of staff and aggregating information to come up with a plan. Trinca joined the Canucks in May and feels fortunate for the rapport and collaboration between the training staff, coaches and players and is excited to build on that.

"I try to do a lot of listening. I empowered the training staff to continue their processes that they've been working on the past year-plus," he said.

He's spent time connecting with players that are away working with their own trainers over the summer, and meeting with some of the athletes training in Vancouver. It's more common for veteran players know what works for their bodies, but he said for the younger players it can take a year or two for them to realize the expectations at the NHL level and know what works for them.

"Part of our job is to somewhat expedite that time," he said. "It's not a totalitarian approach, it's always a collaborative approach between us, the player, our coaching staff, and management," adding that they don't expect perfection after one offseason and are looking for improvements year over year.

Trinca, who spent seven seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins, has a training philosophy based around versatility and respecting the stress the players are under. He takes stock of any situation - playing heavier minutes, playing through a slump, a recent trade, or a player helping his wife through a pregnancy - and adjusts training plans accordingly.

"Being keenly aware of the context you're being exposed to is of utmost importance. There's not just one potential solution for everyone, you have to be adaptable," he said.

Repeat shift performance and the player's ability to extend shifts between 45 and 60 second time frames are good indications of where players are at. Looking ahead to training camp, Trinca also says performance in days three and four can be very telling what a player has done in the offseason. Maintaining a high level of fitness is a requirement by management and the training staff, but he stressed that if a player isn't in shape, most of that frustration is felt by his linemates.

"You ultimately need to be fit for your teammates. If a player is grinding 56, 57 seconds into a shift down in the O-zone and we've changed, and their group is tired, those are the opportunities we have to score goals."

Trinca was with the Canucks at the NHL Combine and Development Camp. At the Combine he was taking note of different performance outputs, sussing out if top picks have a specific blueprint and if lower round picks have potential to build on current performance. Athletes are generally peaking earlier these days with off-ice work at the college level and strength and conditioning coaches becoming staples for junior teams.

"The training element is becoming more important than just being physically fit. Now, it's not a competitive advantage, it's just an expectation," he said, adding, "I think players have started to understand that."

He's also come to appreciate how much knowledge athletes have about how to take care of themselves aiming for longevity in their careers. Having worked with the Penguins through back-to-back Stanley Cup seasons (2015-2016, 2016-2017), now an older core, he's seen different approaches to conditioning that has worked to keep them performing at a high level.

As the players continue to train throughout the summer, the training staff will be practicing their agility as well, updating and fine-tuning programs getting things ready for Training Camp and the season.