Lindsay Taps Into Old Routines for "Learn to Play at Home" Series

Bill Lindsay is used to being creative when it comes to keeping his skills sharp.

During his 13 seasons in the NHL -- including parts of seven with the Florida Panthers -- the high-energy forward admits that he rarely spent any time on the ice during the summer after carving out a regular spot in the league, choosing instead to focus on other areas of training.

"I don't know if it would work now, but I never skated in the summers in my life," Lindsay told FloridaPanthers.com. "I would skate one week before training. I'd always make sure I was in really, really good shape, but I just wanted to get my muscle mass back up and make sure all my parts were working. I knew the hockey would take care of itself once I knew I was back."

Now working with the Panthers as the team's radio color analyst, Lindsay has been dusting off some of those old off-ice workouts over the past few months to help keep homebound hockey players and fans both entertained and informed throughout the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Watch: Youtube Video

A longtime guest instructor with the organization's regular "Learn to Play" programs, Lindsay said the Panthers reached out to him shortly after the NHL season was paused on March 12 to see if he'd be interested in filming some educational clips for their "Learn to Play at Home" series.

Of course, he leapt at the opportunity.

"They approached me to do some home videos and come out with content," Lindsay said. "From that, I really just went back to my younger days. They told me that I had free reign."

Over the next few months, Lindsay created nearly a dozen videos for the Panthers to share on their social channels. So far, the lessons have ranged from things as simple as how to properly hold a hockey stick to a few more advanced skills such as how to perform the perfect snap shot.

Lindsay said he hopes the videos will be especially beneficial to cooped up young hockey fans.

"A lot of that stuff was things that I did as a kid growing up to hone my skills," said Lindsay, who originally joined the Panthers during the 1993 NHL Expansion Draft. "I did a lot of that, actually. It actually helped me when I got on the ice… My target audience for this was the younger guys."

Of all the videos, Lindsay said his favorites have been the ones that he filmed at his parent's home in Montana. These lessons were some of his most innovative, as they involved things such as painting targets on logs to practice accuracy shooting, something he did often as a kid.

Watch: Youtube Video

"I would shoot pucks and pucks and pucks off those for hours," Lindsay said. "Just painted dots on wood in a pile. For me, it brought back memories of hockey and what I would do. This whole coronavirus has helped me remember some things you can do to stay sharp and stay in shape."

While in Montana, Lindsay also enlisted the help of his 89-year-old father, Junie, to film the videos.

"We had go through a lot of takes," Lindsay said with a laugh. "There were times when he'd cut off half my head or something like that. Some of those videos that came out we were on about Take 10. I think I wore my dad out with shooting of the videos. It was old-school TV. It was fun."

In the end, Lindsay hopes fans have as much fun watching the videos as he had making them.

"It was a fun thing to do for the Panthers," he said. "I really enjoyed it."

To see all of Lindsay's "Learn to Play Home" videos, click HERE.