Because of several factors including the packed game calendar, the age of his team, and its performance, coach Jim Montgomery has canceled more practices than his predecessors did. Of late, he gave them Halloween weekend off, then opened the month of November with a week that featured as many off days (three) as game days (three), along with one practice. Morning skates, once a necessary part of a team’s preparation, are often optional.
Montgomery’s decision to rest his team has to do with “soreness and injuries we may have within the lineup,” he said. “Our sports science department, I rely on heavily. Looking at how the players are doing, the output that they’re doing, especially in practice, in relation to trying to get them to be their best for game time.
“I think our third periods show that we’re in real good condition, players are feeling really good with the way we’re able to play in the third period. I rely a lot on them. And then also communication with players and how they’re feeling.”
The results are impossible to deny. The Bruins’ third-period goal differential — plus-16 — is best in the league. As of Monday, they ranked No. 1 in both goals (4.0 per game) and goals against (2.19). Through 16 games, 20 different Bruins have scored goals.
David Pastrnak awoke Monday third in scoring (9-16—25), while Hampus Lindholm (4-13—17) was tied for third among defensemen. Linus Ullmark was first in wins (12), second in goals-against average (1.96), and third in save percentage (.936). He was named second star of the week by the NHL.
The NHL and NHLPA’s collective bargaining agreement mandates no less than four days off per month, one at least every seven days. Each team also has a bye week of not less than eight days between games, including the All-Star break.
This is vastly different from days of yore.
“We’ve got four games in seven days? If you get three wins, we’ll give you a day off,” NESN analyst Andy Brickley said. “That’s the way it was. There was no concern about work-to-rest ratio. That phrase didn’t exist.”
Brickley, whose 14-year pro career included four years with his hometown Bruins (1988-92), said coaches wouldn’t check in with player leadership about rest, as Montgomery does today.
“Very rarely did that happen,” he said. “Even the most senior and/or star player, it wasn’t in their makeup. It wasn’t in their mentality. It was a sign of weakness to go say you need a day off. I’m going back decades now, but that’s the way it was.”
When the Bruins had a break in their schedule, he said, they’d have a mini-training camp. Sometimes, they’d have double sessions, with 45-plus minutes of conditioning drills and another 45 of systems and special teams.
Today’s players don’t need that. They work all summer, arriving for training camp all but ready for games. The exhibition season is more about evaluating prospects than tuning up veterans. Players who don’t train and fuel properly 12 months out of the year do not make the NHL, to say nothing of their longevity.
“People are realizing the importance of days off, nutrition, rest, recovery,” said longtime strength coach Mike Boyle, whose résumé includes time with the Bruins, Red Sox, and Boston University. “It used to be they were worried about what guys would do if you gave them the day off. Guys will be out tearing up the town. I don’t think it’s that way anymore.”
Conditioning aside, players today do not need long practices to understand their duties. Their attention spans are shorter, their needs more immediate. Right after their shifts end, players can watch video on the bench, clips cued up on tablets. They do not have to wait until the following day’s practice.
This is one reason why Montgomery’s morning skates often last 20-odd minutes. Another is the age of the team. The…
Read More: Secret to Bruins’ success could be the amount of rest Jim Montgomery gives them