THN.com/podcast. From THN On The 'A': Bobby McMann, Flyers Prospects and More David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MTk2NjY5ODMwODg3MjUzODIy/usatsi_19299200.jpg] David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron We’ve officially entered the last four weeks of the NHL regular season. While only one team has officially clinched and only San Jose has been eliminated, the playoff picture is set for the most part. No one is catching any divisional seeds in the East, and three teams are fighting for two wild-card spots. In the West, the Central teams are all but confirmed, with seeding the only thing in doubt. Seattle may or may not catch Edmonton in the Pacific, and the wild-card battle comes down to Winnipeg, Calgary and Nashville. With 12 games remaining for most teams and playoff spots all but locked in, will teams start to rest their players in preparation for the playoffs? This argument has surfaced every season for the past few years, and the debate has legitimate pros and cons. The past trade deadline saw Jakob Chychrun, Luke Schenn and Vladislav Gavrikov sitting more than five games each for what amounted to trade-related reasons or asset protection. Did it drag on longer than necessary? Certainly, in Chychrun and Gavrikov’s case, it did. Arizona, Vancouver and Columbus weren’t resting them to ensure they were healthy for a playoff run but to ensure they were tradeable. We’ve seen this in basketball and football, and from an asset management perspective, it makes sense. In hockey, everyone is conditioned to believe you play through bumps and bruises, or worse, and asset protection is frowned upon. There is merit to what those teams did, even if they didn’t approach it the right way. The thing is, none of those teams are anywhere close to the playoffs. They won’t be playing more than the required 82 games this season. Load management is unnecessary unless you’re monitoring workload due to indicators that flag potential injury or if you are expecting to play extra games. Under the current CBA, teams cannot force players to wear Catapult tracking units that aid in monitoring various markers to help identify potential injury risks and candidates for load management. Professional soccer and the NFL use these units and Zone 7, an algorithm specializing in injury risk forecasting and load management. While some NHL teams have convinced their players to wear Catapult systems, it is not guaranteed. Therefore, teams are forced to trust what a player says he feels on any given day. Teams using this system have been successful at the league level, including an MLS championship and Liverpool FC’s four-trophy season. While hockey traditionalists don’t want to admit it, sport science shows that monitoring athlete output and resting players from practices or games benefits long-term performance. This does not suggest that teams adopt an NBA-style of load management. Some of the instances in the NBA are over the top. Sitting a star player one game of every back-to-back is unnecessary if you spread their workload over the two games. Assuming a healthy season, players should not need to sit more than seven or eight games of 82 in the NHL. That’s less than 10 percent. Instead of rotating the fourth-line players and bottom-pair defensemen on a back-to-back or three games in four days, teams should consider giving the guys who play upwards of 20 minutes rest to prevent muscular injury. It would be naive to think that teams would do this earlier in the season. That doesn’t mean the idea does not have merit. If Manchester City can afford to sit Erling Haaland for a few games, then Boston can afford to sit any of their top players. With publicly available studies on aging curves and load management, Boston should consider resting the likes of Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci and Hampus Lindholm. Toronto should rest Mark Giordano, Auston Matthews and John Tavares. Any player that has had an injury or has more than a little knock should be given nights off in the last few games of the season. Rest is the biggest weapon at this point of the season. Teams who play shorter playoff series tend to be more successful because they play fewer games. With quite a few teams locked into their playoff spots, taking advantage of the ability to rest top players and manage their workload can be a major difference-maker. That extra time for the body to recover may be key in preventing muscle strain later. Boston will play a team fighting until the last day and will not have the luxury of resting players. The inherent advantage of being able to play a rested Bergeron, Charlie McAvoy, Lindholm and Krejci after the seasons they’ve had would be palpable. The goal is to win the Stanley Cup. The goal is not to win every single game in the regular season. Once you’ve clinched your spot and, in some cases, your opponent, teams should focus on readying themselves for a long playoff run. Yes, fans will complain they’ve paid money to see Player X and will be disappointed. That disappointment will surely be forgotten with a little bit of playoff success. Ask any fan of the top teams one question: Would you rather watch your stars play every night at the end of March or every night at the end of May and June? Every single one will say May and June. The owners, who don’t have to share playoff revenue, will surely opt for regular-season load management if it means their team was able to gain an advantage and potentially play more playoff games. To win the Cup, you need your key players to stay healthy. Resting your stars is a privilege you earn by playing well all season to ensure your playoff spot. It is a strategy that teams should take advantage of, and if the NHL wants to prevent it, they should find a way to make the playoff races a little more interesting. Until then, just like the Coyotes exploit the salary cap rules, good teams should use the format and get their stars some well-deserved rest to ensure they are at their healthiest when the playoffs start.
