Stu Cowan: Canadiens can learn about fitness from Martin St. Louis

Article content

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.”

St. Louis keeps himself in fantastic shape and probably could still play a short shift on the power play. Instead, he will take over coaching the power play this season after Alex Burrows stepped down as an assistant coach this summer. The Canadiens’ power play ranked 27th in the NHL last season with a 17.5 per cent success rate.

Article content

At 5-foot-8 and 176 pounds, St. Louis had a 16-year Hall of Fame playing career. In 2013, at age 37 and while playing for the Tampa Bay Lightning, his physique was on display in the annual The Body Issue of ESPN the Magazine.

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.”

Article content

Article content

Canadiens training camp opened Wednesday with 59 players reporting to the CN Sports Complex in Brossard for physical and medical testing. They will hit the ice for the first time at 10 a.m. Thursday.

Rob Ramage, the Canadiens’ director of player development, noted how fitness training has changed dramatically since he was the No. 1 overall pick by the Colorado Rockies at the 1979 NHL Draft after playing one season with the WHA’s Birmingham Bulls.

“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.”

St. Louis was never selected at the NHL Draft and recalled dealing with anxiety when it came to training as he tried to earn a spot in the league. During his playing days, St. Louis worked out during the summers in Connecticut with Ben Prentiss of Prentiss Hockey Performance.

“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.”

Article content

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Play Video

Article content

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.”

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Play Video

Article content

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 Wednesday 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.”

scowan@postmedia.com

x.com/StuCowan1

Article content

Article content