Coaches developing new routine to avoid going 'stir-crazy'

Rick Tocchet isn't used to this.

Whether as a player during his 18 NHL seasons, or now as coach of the Arizona Coyotes, Tocchet has always had a routine. But with the NHL season paused since March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus, he's had to learn to adjust.

"I think [St. Louis Blues coach Craig Berube] and [Carolina Hurricanes coach Rob Brind'Amour] will tell you, when you take routine away, we get a little stir-crazy. We're obsessive people," Tocchet said last week on a video call arranged by the NHL. "So I try to do something every day. You get workouts in, you do a little bit of hockey stuff, you make your phone calls, you watch your TV stuff, but I think it's important to get a routine every day."

Hockey players are creatures of habit. Coaches, many of whom are former players, are the same.

A routine for a coach tends to be very structured, especially on game days, which consist of meetings, morning skate, video work, roster decisions, the game itself, and a postgame press conference. And if a team is on the road, add in scheduled bus rides and mealtimes.

Considering the hours put in, filling the void is that much tougher.

But work has naturally remained a big part of a coach's daily life during the pause. Dallas Stars coach Rick Bowness said he gave his staff four or five teams to analyze, "maybe add some things to our team that could help us."

Washington Capitals coach Todd Reirden begins his day by looking at video of his team, as well as others, then conducting phone calls. As with many NHL coaches, one phone call is usually to the head athletic trainer to check on the team's health.

"Then it goes into some different things with connecting with our staff and making sure that our players are being talked to, connected by someone through our organization whether it's [strength and conditioning coach] Mark Nemish -- who's done a great job of getting everybody workouts to be able to do at home, and that's something that he sends out and we go through -- and then our individual coaching staff reaching out to guys and just staying on top of things and checking in," Reirden said.

However, coaches are also checking in with their contemporaries, something they usually don't get the time or opportunity to do until the NHL Draft.

Montreal Canadiens coach Claude Julien has been exchanging thoughts and ideas on conference calls with other coaches. While participants have varied, Julien said some talks have included former NHL coaches Mike Babcock and Ken Hitchcock, and current coaches Barry Trotz of the New York Islanders, Jon Cooper of the Tampa Bay Lightning, and Peter DeBoer of the Vegas Golden Knights.

"Different coaches go in and out," Julien said. "All it is are some conference calls. We basically just chat about things that we don't get a chance to chat about, and some of those things are obviously the reason we're doing that: to keep between us. It could be things that happen in the room, things that happen in the organization, different kind of things we don't get to chat much [about] except for during the summer at the draft when we're together, but we have even more time to talk about those things because we're not running back to our teams or running to another clinic. It's basically to keep us sharp, keep us in the loop, to keep chatting about our jobs."

Sometimes, catching up is just a good way to pass the time.

Winnipeg Jets coach Paul Maurice joked that he and his staff talk every day, "because we're bored more than anything else." But they've also divvied up some tasks, including picking the Jets' game apart, which they usually do during the offseason, and looking at the possibility of small-group scenarios.

"One of the things that's been floated out there is at least the idea that it would be maybe a small group working together before the whole group was able to get together," Maurice said. "What does that look like? What can you do with 6-8 players on the ice at one time? If you're allowed a small group, how do you structure that group so you have defensemen, forwards, the right number of goaltenders? So [we're looking at] those kinds of things."

And therein lies the biggest issue with coaches and any work they do at this point: there are a lot of possibilities, with nothing being close to certain.

"Am I in season-ending mode where I've got to create some type of review video and sort out year-end meetings with players? Or am I planning for a mini training camp should we get back to playing? How many games, [what] type of scheduling do I have to plan for?" Los Angeles Kings coach Todd McLellan said. "There's a lot of variables that are unknown. I'll write something on a piece of paper, and the next day I'll flip the page over and I'll write the exact opposite.

"One of the things that our staff does throughout the season is we create a video library or a foundation library. I've been going through a lot of old games from this past season trying to sort things out so I can find good individual clips for each of the players, but also team clips that we might use if we come back and started camp. Or if we don't, it would be used in training camp in the fall again."

NHL coaches have also been using this time to share knowledge with coaches in other leagues. The NHL Coaches' Association launched a pilot for its mentorship program from Feb. 10 to March 9 as a way for League coaches to help grow the game, and four webinars were held for 200 coaches from the NCAA, the United States Hockey League, the ECHL and American Hockey League.

Originally, the program was supposed to be introduced in October, but because of the coronavirus, the NHLCA moved the date up to March 20.

Buffalo Sabres coach Ralph Krueger hosted an international coaching webinar in conjunction with the NHLCA on March 25. Krueger's session, a 45-minute presentation followed by a 45-minute Q&A, talked about leadership methods and the best ways for European players to transition to the NHL.

"The goal and dream of every player in Europe is not to end their career in their own country, but actually to make the National Hockey League," said Krueger, who was coach of Team Europe at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. "So that's the common thread, and I think that's why it's interesting for them to hear from an NHL coach because no matter what age you're coaching at here, that's what kids are dreaming about and that's what they're reaching for. It is a big adjustment."

Teaching has been happening at home, too. Instead of drawing up plays on the dry-erase board with players, coaches are reacquainting themselves with math and other schoolwork with their children.

"My oldest daughter, who's doing it through some sort of Skype where they see their teacher, she's doing that from nine in the morning till two in the afternoon," Julien said. "I'm pretty impressed with her, the way she's handled that with her short lunch hour."

After his own morning workout, Brind'Amour is in charge of getting his 8-year-old son moving.

"I'm the [physical education] teacher. That's my role," Brind'Amour said. "We've got a nice little backyard, so we head back there when mom's done with the regular school. That's been our routine. You just make the best of it."

But with all the work, there needs to be some play, some time to exercise or relax. Edmonton Oilers coach Dave Tippett has been doing just that at his home in Arizona, where he's taking long walks and hiking.

"Other than bumping into a couple of rattlesnakes here and there, it's been all good," he said.

Tocchet took up a new hobby in roller skating after a Coyotes trainer put wheels on a pair of his skates. He said he's been enjoying it, except when a took a spill on April 2.

"I hit a pothole," said Tocchet, who tweeted out arm and leg injuries he sustained that day. "It still hurts."

Others have taken a less painful and more familiar route. Florida Panthers coach Joel Quenneville is passionate about horse racing, so he's been watching a lot of that. And after hearing all the talk surrounding the Netflix show "Tiger King," Quenneville decided to tune in.

"My wife and kids put it on and we started watching the first episode and I thought, 'This is something else.' Because I don't know how many people asked me if I watched this thing," Quenneville said. "We ended up watching it all over the last few days, so I'm up to speed with it."

If there has been one positive as a result of the pause, it has been the opportunity for coaches to spend more time with their families.

Bowness was recently in Arizona visiting his son, Pittsburgh Penguins director of professional scouting Ryan Bowness, who is expecting his first child with his wife this summer. For Maurice, all three of his children, each of whom are in college, are currently with him at home.

"It's a window I'll never get again. I'll never get to have dinner every night with them or sit around and watch bad movies that they think are funny that clearly are not," Maurice said. "There's a lot of interaction where there's no set of circumstances that will again allow this to happen, so I'm absolutely taking advantage of this."

McLellan said he and his family are playing games and cooking more.

"My two sons and my oldest son's girlfriend are here living with us right now, so the five of us will plan dinner," he said. "We all cook together, often open a nice bottle of wine. They're all adults, so we get to enjoy that. There are some advantages to this virus -- very few of them -- but the one is family time. We've sat around and talked and told stories, we've played cards, we've played board games, stuff I can guarantee you we wouldn't have found the time to do as a family. So there are those advantages, but the sooner everybody can get healthy and we move on with a normal world, the better it is for myself and my family."

And when hockey returns, they'll be more than ready for it.

"It's a great time for people to work together, to take care of one another by spending time with those most important to them," Toronto Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. "You also do recognize that getting a lot of messages and calls from friends and people around who enjoy their sports and the role sports does play in their lives. It makes you recognize and know what you're doing is important and people miss it. The most important thing is to recognize that there are a lot of bigger things happening than sports, but when the health officials and League decide it's ready to play hockey, we'll be excited to get going."

-- NHL.com staff writers Tom Gulitti and Dave Stubbs contributed to this report