Off Ice Test Results You Should Get If You Want To Play In The NHL

INTRO

Over the years I have seen a clear correlation between off ice test results and the level goalies are playing at.

At the end ability to stop the puck is what matters but if you want to be a pro goalie you need to have strong physique because that is the foundation for everything. Weak and out-of-shape goalies can’t be technically good because their body can’t do what their mind wants to do and their body doesn’t recover from the training fast enough.

For young goalies, the easiest way to separate yourself is to become strong before your competition does. And why does separating yourself early actually matters? When you get to play with better players in better teams you’ll advance faster. Also, when U16 and U18 teams are selected it will be very hard to make that transaction to higher speed unless you are physically strong and fast enough.

Below are sample numbers 18-20 years old goalie can achieve if the off-ice training has been consistent and well designed for a couple of year, and what kind of test results you’ll need to get if your goal is to play in the NHL.

STRENGTH

You want to be strong because maximum strength is the foundation for speed and power, and it also effect your endurance. However, how goalies develop strength is different compared to guys who are just trying to lift big weights e.g. strongmen or powerlifters. There are many reasons why you don’t want to simply copy someone’s training program even if they are strong and jacked.

Reason why there is upper limit for ideal strength is that to increase strength above certain threshold it doesn’t give you a significance advantage on the ice but it requires an unnecessary amount of focused extra work to get the off-ice gains. For example, increasing back squat from 80kg to 100kg is a totally different story than increasing from 180kg to 200kg. Basically work-reward ratio is poor after a certain level. When you reach these strength levels you can maintain them and focus even more on transferring that strength to speed and explosive power.

If you are a beginner lifter and “real” off-ice training is new to you, it can take 3-5 years or more to get to this level. But if you are strong enough you will stay between these numbers a year around. These are strength levels U20 and pro goalies should have:

Back squat: 1.8-2.2x body weight

Front squat: 1.5-2.0x body weight

Trap bar deadlift: 2.0-3.0x body weight

Hang clean: 1.0-1.5x body weight

Bench press: 1.0-1.5x bodyweight

Pull up with body weight: 10-20 reps

JUMPS

When I saw Marc-André Fleury at U20 championships it was clear to me why he was playing and I was watching him. I had never seen a goalie move like that before. With jump test results more is better because it clearly correlates to the movement on the ice.

Absolute bare minimum results U20 goalie must get (these are not good numbers):

Skating jump 200cm

Standing still forward jump (long hop): 225cm

Five jump with standing still start: 12m

Vertical jump: 35cm

These results will put U20 goalie into the “excellent” category on an international level and the minimum level you’ll need to reach if your goal is to play in the NHL:

Skating jump 220cm or more

Standing still forward jump (long hop): 275cm or more

Five jump with standing still start: 14m or more

Vertical jump: 50cm or more

CARDIO

Cardio is super important because it allows you to train harder, more often and the most importantly with better quality. If you have bad cardio you can’t recover between drills at practices and you can’t recover between training sessions. Goalies who can train more often with better quality will improve faster and that is one big reason why you see goalies with bad cardio in lower leagues and goalies with good cardio in higher leagues.

I have been doing research among pro goalies and coaches regading off-ice test results for some time but recently my outlook on VO2 max has changed. It needs to be much higher than I have previously said if your goal is to play on very high-level (NHL or top pro league).

These are absolutely minimum numbers U18-U20 goalie would want to have.

Cooper test (12 minute run): 3000m

30 minute run: 7000m

Vo2 Max: 52 ml/min/kg

These numbers you’ll want to reach if your goal is to play in the NHL:

Cooper test (12 minute run): 3200-3500m

30 minute run: 7200-7500m

Vo2 Max: 57-65 ml/min/kg

SPRINTS

I have not included sprint test times here because not many places have the equipment to measure the time properly and running technique has a huge impact on your results. Faster is faster.

FLEXIBILITY

I have noticed that flexibility is an extremely good indicator of whether you have a chance to play pro or not because it tells about your daily habits and routines.

Are splits important? Yes and no. Extreme flexibility allows you to make desperate saves that can make the difference between losing and winning the championship, and being flexible makes your daily life more comfortable on and off the ice. But are there more important things than splits? Yes, but in the end goaltending is not about doing one or two things well. You must be good enough in everything and excellent in many to play pro so the debate about how important flexibility is seems a waste of time to me.

Most of the pro-goalies I know can do splits. I also know high-level pro goalies who have hip impingement so they can’t do splits. But every pro guy I know can at least almost do splits whether they have impingement or not. If your splits are more than 20-30cm off from the ground you are stiff.

To get to full splits it takes about 4-10 hours stretching in a week for 12-24 months or more depending on your age, genetics and background. To maintain splits it takes about 2-4 hours stretching in a week.

Is two hours of stretching in a week a lot? It is very little when you count all the times together. 2-10min before training, 10-20min after training and 1-2 longer 30-90min sessions. As you see the two hours add up really quickly.

Being flexible and ability to do splits doesn’t require any skill or talent, just time and effort to do stretching and mobility work every day.

BODY FAT & NUTRITION

There is a sweet spot for body fat percentage which is 8-12%. For some people who are naturally skinny 6-8% is still ok but anything below six percentage is way too low.

8% is definitely the lower end and you want to be above 6% because otherwise it starts to affect your hormonal production. If you are above 12% you are carrying unnecessary weight with you that affects your movement. Just try how it feels to do skating and a butterfly holding some weights.

If you train to be a pro goalie and you are not lean, your eating habits need to be looked at. Body fat percentage also tells something about the quality of the nutrition you are getting.

I have not met a goalie who didn’t have something to improve with their nutrition. Everyone who I have done a food diary with were not eating enough. Many guys are eating as little as 1500-2000 kcal even when they are training 2x / day.

My experience is that most of the goalies in the North America are eating way too much junk and only a one real meal in a day. In Souther Europe the general theme is that goalies might be eating enough many times in a day but they are eating way too little and foods that lack nutritiens like croissants and Nutella. In Nordic countries goalies are mainly eating healthy but far too little and not often enough.

Why eating too little is a huge problem? When your body is not recovering it goes to over training state (over stress). Some of the common early signs are: hard time falling in sleep, waking up after 4-6 hours of sleep, falling in sleep afternoon after the lunch, hard time to focus, irritation / frustration, not being able to catch the pucks, loss of strength and speed, etc. When this continues too long (months) you may end up having some type of burnout or develop chronicle over stress condition which takes months to recover from. This can also happen people working in the office.

So if you really want to be a pro athlete or just to live a happy life, nutrition is super important. What you eat is 1/3 of your results (training is 1/3 and sleeping is 1/3). A good rule of thumb is that anything less than 2500 kcal / day is way too little for anyone training to be a pro and most likely 3000-4000 kcal / day is what you’ll actually need. To get 2500 kcal from home cooking that doesn’t include deep fried stuff or white sugar is tons of food so you can’t eat too much.

HOW TO DEVELOP STRENGTH, SPEED, ETC.?

You do that off the ice. During summer it is more beneficial for the short-term and long-term development to stay off the ice 4-12 weeks. I think goalies who are younger than U12 should stay off the ice 8-12 weeks and focus on other sports because that will make you faster and stronger now, and create a higher long-term maximum threshold. Taking time off from hockey will also prevent mental burnout.

If you want to be a pro goalie I highly recommend doing other sports + art and music because it will make you better athlete in the short-term as well as in the long run. There is so much evidence that single sport athletes tend to peak at the age of 14-16 and multisport athletes do better in the long run. In Finland you can’t find a pro goalie who wouldn’t have played other sports.

SUMMARY:

Life and goaltending is not black and white. Physically better athletes tend to do better but of course it doesn’t automatically mean you’ll make it to the NHL or even pro level if you get really good off-ice test results. Some of these numbers in this article are really high and many guys will never get there but still make it to the pro or even NHL. If you can compensate the lack of one attribute with another skill you will be fine.

From personal experience, I can tell that maximum strength, jump ability, cardio, a strong core, extreme flexibility and a strong enough upper body are super important if you want to play pro. When I was younger I trained a lot but didn’t know how to do it properly or how to eat enough. That is why I got better but my test results didn’t match the work I was putting in. With my current knowledge, I’d train very differently and that is why I’m doing custom off-ice programs and sell “ready to go” programs so you could avoid my mistakes.

CONCLUSION:

What you do off the ice is as important as what you do on the ice. On-ice training is only 1-2 hours / day but there are 22 other hours. Anyone can train hard for a one ice session when coach is yealing next to you but what you do with rest of the time will determine whether you’ll make it pro or not.

If you are interested in working with me I make custom off-ice programs and I also have “ready to go” programs for lower price. Full online coaching is also a good way to combine on-ice and off-ice coaching.

LINKS:

Here is a link to an article that talks about Spencer Knights combine results: https://www.nhl.com/news/goalie-prospect-spencer-knight-impresses-at-nhl-combine/c-307652512

Article about NHL combine test results:

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/2022-nhl-combine-results-top-10-prospects-at-each-drill/

WORK WITH ME:

If you want to be faster, stronger and more flexible read more about custom off ice training programs