Then again, some players got a gauge of what’s required to re-energize after competing in the\u00a04 Nations Face-Off\u00a0last season.<\/p>\n
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32 Thoughts: The Podcast<\/p>\n
Hockey fans already know the name, but this is not the blog. From Sportsnet, 32 Thoughts: The Podcast with NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas is a weekly deep dive into the biggest news and interviews from the hockey world.<\/p>\n
Latest episode<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cTake the rest whenever you can find it, for sure,\u201d said\u00a0Avalanche forward Brock Nelson<\/a>, who helped the U.S. to its first men’s Olympic hockey gold medal since 1980. \u201cThe (NHL) schedule is just so compact for everybody now. Just trying to ride the energy.\u201d<\/p>\n The season paused for 19 days from Feb. 6-24 to allow players to participate in the Olympics. Adding the holiday break, each team is playing 82 games over 170 days \u2014 one every 2.07, even more condensed than every 2.15 days in 2024-25 with 4 Nations. In 2023-24, teams played every 2.26 days with stops only for the holidays and All-Star festivities.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was definitely an adjustment coming back, not going to lie, playing in probably the biggest game that has been played in a while and then the emotions of winning,\u201d Tkachuk said. \u201cIt took a little bit to get readjusted.\u201d<\/p>\n Tkachuk, the 26-year-old Senators captain, is back to \u201cnormal\u201d now. Older teammate Lars Eller<\/a>, who played for Denmark at his first Olympics at 36, considers this better than the mid-season doldrums.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re kind of past that Olympic fatigue now, if there was any,\u201d said Eller, whose team is in the thick of a wild-card playoff chase in the East. \u201cNow your energy level is actually increasing here towards the end as you\u2019re fighting for a playoff spot and you\u2019re eyeing the end of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n Ottawa\u2019s Tim St\u00fctzle turned 24 in January, and his preparations to represent Germany at the Olympics and try to get his club back to the playoffs began last summer.<\/p>\n \u201cI was prepared to go for a long season, and yeah that\u2019s where the foundation kind of builds,\u201d said St\u00fctzle, who tied for second at the Games in goals with four. \u201cObviously right after the Olympics, I was pretty exhausted with the time change and everything. But now I feel great.\u201d<\/p>\n Balancing rest and playoff seeding<\/p>\n There’s no choice but to grind through, Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said.<\/p>\n \u201cYou’re limited in your options,” Bednar explained. “It\u2019s very little practice, lots of recovery days, whether they\u2019re at the rink or away from the rink, trying to make sure we\u2019re getting rest on the road and the travel schedule is appropriate. What do you do besides rest them?\u201d<\/p>\n That’s not really an option for Colorado. The Avalanche are leading the way in the race for the Presidents’ Trophy, which goes to the team with the best record, with Dallas close behind.<\/p>\n \u201cSo we\u2019re not in a position, in my opinion, to be resting guys,\u201d Bednar said. \u201cSo you play through.\u201d<\/p>\n The Stars minimize the wear and tear on their Olympic players by cutting down on minutes as much as possible.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t just, say, give two days off and it\u2019s gone,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. \u201cYou just do (the rest) over a period of time and get their bodies built back up.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Real Kyper and Bourne<\/p>\n