Athletes are regimented with their bodies. Everything is analyzed when talking about physical pain, like a torn ACL. There are programs, rehabs, and systems put into place. But what happens when a player suffers from mental pain, and how does that affect their performance?

Throughout his 13-year career, New Jersey Devils defenseman Brendan Smith has seen it all. While he successfully learned to adjust his own game and mindset to remain a constant in the NHL, he has witnessed players struggle to find that same consistency and sustainability to stay in the greatest league in the world. 

That left an impression on him, teaching an early lesson about longevity in the toughest hockey league in the world.

"Watching guys go in and out (of the lineup)," Smith said, "Guys who were better than me, who could never change their game, stay with it, or be mentally strong, never did make it (in the NHL)."

To maintain the physical aspect of the game, players rely heavily upon routine. The same offseason training rituals and programs until training camp begins in September, when a player's calendar fills up with meetings, practices, morning skates, games, and the ever-so-important rest day.

The mental aspect of the game is far more challenging to maintain. 

For this reason, players seek help from individuals outside their respective organizations, such as therapists, conscious leadership coaches, and mental skills coaches. 

"He Has Been a Huge Part of My Career"

Devils forward Jesper Bratt is one of many NHLers who have publicly spoken about the positive influence of their mental skills coach.

"All the things that come on the ice have come from what I have been doing off the ice, and (Andy Swärd) has been a huge part of my career," Bratt said. "We still talk before every single game. It does not have to be a serious talk or anything like that. It can just be a normal chit-chat and keeping ourselves updated with the latest mental game plan. It has been huge for me, and I don't know if I would have been getting this edge without his help."

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Andy Swärd describes himself as a "passionate life-lover with an outright curiosity and thirst for human development."

He has almost three decades of experience and has been active in the corporate and sporting worlds. He began working with Bratt in 2017, the summer before the winger made the Devils roster.

"That summer, I got in contact with him. He worked with a lot of the Swedish league goalies," Bratt said in an interview on 32 Thoughts: The Podcast. "My agent brought me in to meet up with him, and as soon as I met (Swärd), it all clicked for me."

"The Changed State & The Optimal State"

This season, I had the opportunity to speak with Swärd about his philosophy and the work he does with his clients. With a kind smile and warm presence, he graciously gave up two hours of his time to thoroughly explain what he calls T.C.S. (The Changed State), which is commonly identified as nervousness, anxiety, fear, and panic. He helps his clients understand the source of their T.C.S.'s body response and provides the tools for reaching a positive mental state to achieve T.O.S. (The Optimal State).

One does not need to be a hockey player to understand or even experience T.C.S. Most of you reading this have, at one time or another, experienced fear, overthinking, anxiety, or a certain level of panic that immediately led to shortness of breath, perspiration, or even a temporary loss of memory. All, undesirable reactions to say the least.

Whether playing a hockey game or working a corporate 9-5, individuals want to perform to the best of their abilities and be in T.O.S. If that is not possible, one must learn to identify when they are in T.C.S. and understand which tools are needed to reach their optimal performance. 

This is where Swärd comes in. His first step is to understand his client's thought process and personality.

"I understood very early on that if I have to give someone the right mental tools to work with, I need to know what specific character that athlete or person has," he said.

He administers tests to new clients, which set the foundation for how they move forward with their program. It is the small details, like whether his clients respond best to facts and analysis or if they are more spiritual and would respond best to having meditations incorporated into his meetings.

Swärd's philosphy is applied to more than just athletes. Knowing this makes the hockey players that I report on and that fans idolize relatable, understanding that some struggles and emotions are shared. Hockey players just happen to perform on a larger stage in front of a much bigger audience. 

"The Mental Part of the Game Is the Biggest Part"

During that two-hour Zoom call, Swärd said that for hockey players, practice is about 85 percent physical and 15 percent mental.

He further explained those numbers reverse for games, meaning when the puck drops in front of thousands of hockey fans across North America, 85 percent of the game is mental, and 15 percent is physical. 

Devils forward Alexander Holtz agrees.

"Yeah, I would say that it is something like that; I agree with that. (Games are) more mental than physical," he said. "I feel like if you trust your game, that will help you so much. You should feel confident because everyone knows if you are confident, you play better. Confidence is a mental skill; it is something you need to have."

The thing with confidence is that it ebbs and flows, not just from game to game but from period to period and shift to shift. As Swärd's philosophy shows, and players know, the mental and physical sides of the game are connected. 

"It doesn't matter what you do, if you are stressed out or you don't think that you're capable of doing a certain thing, you miss that flow, and you're not going to be yourself anymore," Bratt said.

"When T.C.S. grabs a hold of you (in the form of performance anxiety, nervousness or panic), it starts a pre-programmed mechanism in the body and it gets the cortisol going," Swärd said. "Once that starts, the breathing will be affected, and then the adrenaline kicks in. At that point we don't recognize our body's reactions and it feels like all those thousands of hours hours of training have been in vain, that's when the mental game really begins." 

Physical symptoms that accompany this altered mental state include numb hands, tunnel vision, and even numb legs. The presence of these symptoms ultimately decreases a player's performance and hinders him from playing at his optimal level. 

“The key thing is to understand that T.C.S. actually is a healthy reaction to an unknown and therefore “dangerous” situation. That’s when we need to trust the clinical process, our insights, and work the system 100 percent," Swärd said.

The question then becomes how does a player recapture his confidence once they lose it and find themselves in T.C.S.?

"I think if somebody had a bulletproof answer to that, we would need more teams in the league because there would be more guys that are in the NHL," defenseman Nick DeSimone said. "You got to have stuff to fall back on. Everybody has their own way to do it. I think the mental part of the game is the biggest part. Being able to be mentally strong and have things to fall back on that are your foundation is the biggest part."

Understanding how challenging it can be for an individual player to regain his confidence, what happens when the team loses it as a whole? 

"It is even harder," Nico Hischier said, "because it comes from individuals. You have to dig into every guy to see where his mindset is and where his confidence is. To get out of it, everybody has to do it themselves."

Swärd provides the proper insight and knowledge so that, together with his players, they can devise a plan for all situations on the ice. 

“Confidence is all about insights, preparations and a solid mental game plan based on the past experiences," he said.

That preparedness reduces the likelihood of feeling anxious or nervous during a game where an individual player can only control so much.

"It's Such a Reactive Sport" 

Hockey is a reactionary game. A player needs to possess the ability to acknowledge and react to visual cues on the ice and anticipate the movements of his opponents.

"In our sport, it is so fast out there," Bratt said. "It's such a reactive sport. If you're not sharp and you're not mentally there to perform your best, you're probably not going to be even remotely close to 100 percent of yourself."

Rookie defenseman Simon Nemec got his first taste of the NHL this past season and very quickly learned he has to be dialed in every second he is on the ice. 

"I have to be focused 100 percent every shift because (I'm playing against) the best players in the world," he said. "I need to be 100 percent focused on the entire game."

 If a player loses focus or is unable to react to his opponent in time, he can find himself in T.C.S., whether it is anxiety or panic that creeps in after being scored on or taking an unnecessary penalty that puts his team in an unfavorable position. 

Those physical symptoms will accompany his now adjusted mental state, and according to Swärd, when a player finds himself in T.C.S., it can reduce their overall performance by 20 or 25 percent.

"That is when players say I have numb hands, I have numb legs, or I can't see anything. Everything went so fast (that) I couldn't keep up with it," Swärd said. "That is the 25 percent cut-off on their performance when you get to taste a piece of T.C.S."

"When It Comes to Mental Pain, People Don't Talk About It"

Athletes are regimented with their bodies. Everything is analyzed when talking about physical pain, like a torn ACL. There are programs, rehabs, and systems put into place and step by step, a player will work his way back to the ice. 

What about mental pain?

"When it comes to mental pain, it still has a touch of stigma. Even though it's more open to talk about it today than just 15 years ago, it's still a sensitive subject especially in elite sports. Most likely because T.C.S. is still seen as a weakness and people don't have the knowledge and the systems (in place). Sadly, it is still more expected to keep quiet, bite the bullet and grind through the situation as best you can, often alone. The real heroes are the players that break and exceed these old-fashioned expectations and find the way to go next level." Swärd said.

Having a plan or system in place to keep a player mentally strong is just as crucial as the rehab and treatment plan put in place by the organization's training and medical staff. 

Part of Bratt's plan involves him writing in a journal, which has become a permanent part of his regimen. The journals include how the young Swede prepares himself before the game and how he takes care of himself. 

"I write journals before and after every single game," he said. "I've done (this) since my first ever preseason game.

"We have a piece of paper with a bunch of questions that I answer before and after every game." Bratt continued. "At (Swärd's) office, he has six books, which is from every single season that I've played, one book for each season."

Swärd calls this performance accelerator his GameAgenda system.

"We always do a pre-match preparatory PerformanceAgenda and a clinical CA3 after each game. This creates a well-grounded mental plan, in among other things, what to change and what to strengthen in our upcoming performance, based on solid experiences from the past challenges," Swärd said. "It makes it easy to focus on the right things at the right time and with that building a solid self-confidence and with that an increased performance. Once the personal plan is set, we go through and look at what the client can do to enhance the team's performance and help his line grow. 

"There is always a solution to play the game the best way possible, but if you get trapped in T.C.S. and you get that negative feeling in your body, you're not receptive and open to think clearly."

This also serves as a way for a player to close a game, allowing him to move forward and refocus his thoughts and energy on the next one. During our interview, Swärd explained that experts believe an individual has around 70,000 thoughts that come and go throughout the day.

"(Experts) say that about 90 percent of them are thoughts from the past, so we basically repeat our old thoughts in different forms and unconsciously re-live the actions that comes with them on a daily basis. I prefer my clients to live in a more conscious state and grow each day." he said with a smile.

Whether it is a good or bad game, it is important to clinically and mentally close out that last performance and put that energy into what the player can control, which is how they prepare for the next one in their 82-game schedule. 

"The CA3 does that and some more. It helps us become more conscious of our future actions instead of repeating unwanted subconscious behaviors. We've probably all sat there and wondered - why did I - or didn't I do that..." Swärd continued.

Both the mental and physical aspects play a role in a player's NHL journey, and as the Devils seek to take the next collective step as a team, it is important to remember Swärd's philosophy and how much work an individual player puts in not just on the ice, but off the ice as well.

More and more players have publicly spoken about the positive influence mental skills coaches have had on their careers, and in the case of Bratt, the on-the-ice results are hard to argue with.

"I think he does an amazing job," said Bratt. "I don't think I would have been close to the position where I am right now if it wasn't for Swärd."