“If it’s not a 12-month thing it’s definitely an 11-month thing,” Habs head coach says about training to play in today’s NHL.
At age 49, Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis looks like he could still play in the NHL.
When I mentioned that to him a couple of seasons ago, he shook his head and said no before adding with a wink: “Maybe on the PP.”
At the time, St. Louis told the Tampa Bay Times posing for the photos was “stepping out of the box for me.”
“I had that feeling that I was out of my element,” he told the Times. “But they asked me and I thought it was the right time.”
Steven Stamkos, St. Louis’s teammate at the time, said: “You hear about Marty’s body and his legs, and you get to see it in that picture. We were giving it to him pretty good, but everyone, I think, deep down is jealous that they weren’t in there.”
“They come in shape now and our (fitness) results for the rookie prospects (last week) were off the chart,” Ramage said. “I remember guys saying my first year in Birmingham, ‘Hey, kid, by December this is a really good league. Guys will be in shape by then.’ A little bit different now. They come ready to go.”
“While he was still in great shape, even when I met him, the biggest differences I would say was we got his body fat down, he got a lot leaner,” Prentiss said during a 2012 episode of Florida Sun Sports Inside the Lightning. “I changed his diet and we began to train smarter. He was training way too long because he has the will. He just needed a better way to train.”
St. Louis said his off-season training program was demanding and hard.
“At that time, I don’t think the guys were doing what they do now,” St. Louis said Wednesday. “If it’s not a 12-month thing (training) it’s definitely an 11-month thing and I feel like back in the day they had training camp to get fit for the season. Well, now guys have to get fit for camp.
“Guys get tested and stuff … we know they’re in shape,” St. Louis added. “But it’s more like where do they need — especially for the young guys — to tighten it up in where they are? And usually off these testings you can kind of steer their off-ice workouts throughout the season what they need to be doing more.”
St. Louis said he’s excited about training camp getting started, noting it’s a fresh start for a team that has missed the playoffs in each of the last three seasons. The coach noted the players now have more than two full seasons with him as head coach and better understand the way he wants the team to play and that he will be more demanding on them.
“For me, I feel my players know that I always tell them my truth and my truth this year compared to last year might be slightly different because we’re further along,” St. Louis said. “So to me, I try to be fair in what I expect of them. Do I expect more of them this year than last year? Absolutely. For the team, but there’s also the individual. The expectation on everybody is a little bit different. They’re at different stages of their career and stuff. But the non-negotiables … that’s across the line. I think they know what the non-negotiables are.
“Guys care,” St. Louis added. “We have a really good group. We have a very selfless group and you need that on a team.”
I asked St. Louis if he thinks he could still challenge some of his young players when it comes to squats in fitness testing.
“I don’t know,” he said with a grin. “Probably not.”