Strong Summer, Stronger Kraken Season

On the Kraken exit day at season’s end, Nate Brookreson makes it a point to talk with each player amid individual meetings with the coaching staff and Kraken GM Ron Francis.

“We go over where they will be, who they plan to train with,” said Brookreson, Seattle’s head strength and conditioning coach since October 2020 in order to help design and plan the team’s relevant workout facilities. “We discuss two or three goals for summer. I ask questions such as ‘walk me through a week of training,’ whether there are any barriers that concern them, how I can specifically help them.”

Some typical goals include weight gain, increasing lean muscle mass, better aerobic fitness, improving maximum strength and/or increasing explosive power.

“Typically, the summer goals are attached to the testing that we do,” said Brookreson. “With our preseason testing and then our check-ins throughout the season, we have this data we're able to inform guys where they stand within the group. Then, specifically, we can identify their areas in which they have the most room to improve.”

One Olympic Moment...Even if Hockey is a Winter Sport

Let’s pause for timely and totally fun aside: Brookreson, introduced to GM Francis through a mutual friend in Raleigh, N.C., was formerly strength and conditioning coach at North Carolina State. His duties included overseeing athletics participating in Olympic sports. One of the athletes with whom he closely training is Ryan Held, who won gold the men’s 4x100-meter freestyle relay last Saturday at the Summer Games in Paris. Held also won gold in the same event during the 2016 games in Brazil during Brookreson’s tenure.

Talking to the Summer Trainers Back Home

Ok, back to hockey: In addition to briefing players on exit day, Brookreson reaches out to individual players’ summer training coaches, often long-standing personal trainers in their home areas. He makes those calls at the beginning and end of the offseason, being careful, per NHL Players’ Association bylaws, not to be inquiring whether players are complying and sticking to the training plan. The agenda is to reiterate the player’s specific goals as agreed on exit day with Brookreson and answer any questions the trainers might have about tailoring summer workouts to achieve the best outcomes during the first-day testing at training camp in mid-September.

“Some trainers might ask about specific protocols and others want to discuss whether, say bike rides [as an aerobic training option],” said Brookreson. “I find the trainers and the players themselves are pretty dialed in ... What you see in this sport now is the expectation that when you show up to camp, you need to be ready, not playing your way into being in shape for the season.”

Brookreson explains: “There’s not enough window of opportunity to improve. Once the players get here for the preseason, they come in, they test and we'll basically have two days of practice and then we're playing a game.”

That many players return for informal, no-coach, “captain skates” soon after Labor Day is further proof today’s NHL players) aim to be in peak condition when camp starts Sept. 18 at Kraken Community Iceplex (btw, Kraken fans, if you want to train like your favorite players, well, sort of, the team will be announcing details of a brand-new Kraken 5K event next Monday).

Giving Prospects Plenty to Shoot For

Kraken prospects ranging from draft choices to signed undrafted free agents to amateur tryout invitees will convene Sept. 11 for rookie camp. Many of those participants have tested with Brookreson and assistant strength and conditioning coach Jake Jensen at previous July development camps and/or past rookie camps. This group, of course, is vital to the long-term success of the franchise (and quite possibly in the shorter-term for select participants in rookie camp).

“The way we go about the prospect process is when they come in for development camp [in July], they go through the same testing as the NHL players do,” said Brookreson. “They're able to see how they stack up against their peers, know where they're at relative to the guys they're competing against. But they're also able to see what the AHL [American Hockey League] and NHL standards are.”

Getting Bigger and Stronger

Prospects Brookreson acknowledges most NHL prospects need to get bigger and stronger to play at the NHL level. Not to forget many rookie camp participants are still growing in their late teens and early 20s too, the testing numbers provide clear guidance on strength and conditioning measures they need to be NHL-ready at their positions.

“Ultimately, we can identify deficiencies they can work on the rest of the summer. Maybe it's not just strength and size. It might include improving aerobic and anaerobic fitness [with and without oxygen during a shift] or explosive power that might otherwise be limiting factors to playing in the NHL. We look to give them objective data to be able to prioritize

with training [with a spot on the NHL and AHL rosters as the future payoff], then be able to communicate [summer trainers and coaches] they're working with.”

It's intuitive that hockey players, rookies and veterans alike, require superior lower body and core strength and power. But Brookreson pointed out that deficiencies in the upper body can put a younger player at a disadvantage by “opening them up for issues with injuries or contact.” It can be underrated how more lean mass in the upper body to help a player “withstand the kinds of forces on the ice.”

Food for Thought – and Lean Muscle Gain

An important part of putting on weight – a common need among prospects – is away from the gym. While Brookreson is clear he is not a registered dietician, he does help Kraken players and prospects understand what summer nutrition habits will contribute to weight gain and especially added muscle.

“Nutrition is kind of a proxy measure,” said Brookreson. “If your training is not moving in the right direction [toward weight gain and/or more lean muscle or upping leg strength], we need to go back and audit the player’s nutrition. For most guys, what it comes down to is they are not consuming enough protein relative to body weight ... if the weight isn't moving [upward], you are in a protein and caloric deficit. The prospect you have to be in a caloric surplus to actually consistently gain weight.”

One way to up the protein and calories is to eat more often, say six meals, all with sufficient protein compared to the old-school three-square feed times. Such frequency day in and day out can be a challenge, which leads to opting “shakes if you can’t eat all those chicken breasts” or other quality proteins, said Brookreson. Instilling those habits pays off in-season too. 

Good Planning is the Secret Ingredient

For some Kraken prospects, it can be lifestyle choices and not just the food and type of protein. For example, he recommends a prospect have a meal with him or easily attained post-workouts.

“The player needs to be intentional,” said Brookreson. “You have to make sure you are intentionally eating a meal or making sure you have enough there is enough time to be able to go get what you need to eat. One of the biggest things I see is when guys get into the summer, they might go play golf [or similar fun activities] without planning for food. A player might say, “I was on the course for three I didn't have anything to eat. I wasn't hungry.’

“Well, your windows of opportunity to actually consume calories during the day is missed and over time you didn't eat enough to move the needle. I discourage guys to back-end calories [via huge evening meals] because it can affect their sleep and generally not feel great going into the next day. It’s all part of understanding the summer’s day plans to be prepared for camp.”

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