Nearly two years ago, Jared Bednar offered four words that summarized Nathan MacKinnon’s rise to the top of the NHL en route to his first Hart Trophy: We get in late.
Bednar’s team altered its travel itinerary to accommodate MacKinnon’s postgame recovery routine, which several of his Colorado Avalanche teammates also partake in. It’s just part of the near mythological tale of MacKinnon’s off-ice commitment to on-ice excellence.
Brent Burns has cultivated a similar reputation across more than two decades in the NHL. His passion for off-ice training and taking care of his body is a big part of why he has played more than 1,500 NHL games and will have a plaque inside the Great Hall at the Hockey Hall of Fame three years after he’s done playing.
This is his first season with the Avalanche, and he’s offered an addendum to the lore of MacKinnon and his teammates’ zeal for the work they put in during the season: They get in early.
Burns has mentioned this a few times. He’s always prided himself on being one of the first guys at the rink every morning, going back to his days with Joe Thornton and the San Jose Sharks. Then he signed with the Avs, and he started seeing a bunch of cars when he pulled into the Family Sports Center parking lot.
“That’s been a huge blessing for me coming here,” Burns said. “There’s so many guys here that are so dedicated to it.”
There were plenty of reasons to believe Burns and the Avalanche could be a good fit when he signed a one-year, incentive-laden deal on July 1. One of the most obvious: Burns is a workout warrior, a guy who has always been a leader in that aspect for every team he’s played for.
The idea of MacKinnon and Burns being on the same team conjured up images of the scene from Step Brothers, when Brennan Huff (Will Ferrell) asks Dale Doback (John C. Reilly), “Did we just become best friends?”
While MacKinnon and Burns haven’t done any karate together in the garage, Burns has enjoyed getting a behind-the-scenes look at what helps make MacKinnon one of the best players of his generation.
“Nate is very well known for a lot of his things and (expletive), I’ve already learned a lot from him,” Burns said. “We talk quite a bit about it. I love picking his brain.
“This stuff changes all the time, and Nate is obviously at the tip of the spear for all of it. It’s been awesome. I love that he loves to share and lets other guys know. That’s a really great thing. A lot of us can learn a lot from a guy like that.”
There have been plenty of stories about both players and their passion for taking care of their bodies, often told by teammates or ex-teammates on podcasts or just passed along by word of mouth. Both players are particular about nutrition and what they put into their bodies, though in different ways.
Burns has a ranch in Texas where he has imported various types of animals to hunt, allowing him to eat meat that never sees preservatives, a delivery truck or a grocery freezer. He makes his own coffee, both at home and on the road.
MacKinnon is one of three athletes, including Andrew Wiggins of the Miami Heat and Cole Caufield of the Montreal Canadians, who recently began endorsing HappiEats sport pasta. They also promote Cwench, a sports hydration drink. MacKinnon has been a big proponent of chickpea pasta in the past, and isn’t afraid to offer dietary tips to his teammates.
Their workout routines are undoubtedly different, but there are some similarities. Riding a stationary bike after games is a staple for MacKinnon, and many of his teammates have adopted it. Burns also likes to get on a bicycle, though his is the more traditional variety — he has incorporated cycling into his offseason plan for years.
“I do a lot of different things. He’s got his stuff, and I do a lot of things differently,” MacKinnon said. “He’s got all these different machines. I don’t know what those machines are, but they’re working for him.
“He’s a great guy, awesome teammate. He’s got a lot of stuff that he does, but he’s super excited every day about doing new things with (strength and conditioning coach Alexi Pianosi), who is also awesome. He’s a curious guy at 40, and I think that’s why he’s played so long. He’s stayed curious, doesn’t think he knows everything and he’s always open to new ideas. I think that’s kind of a key to life, to be honest, is to just stay open.”
MacKinnon might drive the proverbial bus for much of the off-ice work, but there are plenty of eager passengers in the Avs locker room. Brock Nelson has been friends with Devon Toews for years, dating back to their time together with the New York Islanders.
Nelson knew about the culture in the Avs locker room, both through Toews and because of his experience working with Andy O’Brien, one of the NHL’s most famous personal trainers. Nelson began working with O’Brien about a decade ago through John Tavares, but MacKinnon has worked with him for even longer.
That culture played a role in Nelson wanting to stay after arriving at the trade deadline last season. He signed a three-year contract in early June, weeks before he could have gone to the open market as the best center available.
“I feel like the whole performance aspect, from strength and condition to everything else here, is as good as it gets,” Nelson said. “Obviously, that is driven by (MacKinnon). He’s on a completely different level. His fitness, how dialed in he is, is as good as it gets.
“Guys see that, and there’s a method to the madness. He’s one of one. You can’t replicate what he’s doing and then after be like, ‘OK, I’m going to feel like him.’ ”
Nelson is one of the older players on the team, but he’s also someone, like MacKinnon, who has found a new level of performance and production later in his career. That’s not how aging curves have worked for much of the NHL’s history, but the work players do when they’re not on the ice is drastically different now.
Nelson has also enjoyed watching Burns assimilate with the Avalanche, and the physical fitness think tank that the team culture has fostered.
“(Burns) has bags upon bags of tools and gadgets,” Nelson said. ” He’s always saying how he’s stiff and sore, but you see that he’s 40 and he still moves extremely well. He’s stacking all these habits, the gadgets. He’s always foam rolling. He’s always got something going on, something that is working for him in terms of performance and feeling good.
“It’s contagious. It drives guys to be better and try new things. If you can get 1%, 2% out of something that makes you a little bit better, it’s definitely worth it
“You have to go into like, I’m not going to feel like Superman. It’s not going to be revolutionary, but if you feel better by a little bit, then it’s something that mentally you can have belief in and conviction that this is one of those things that is helping me.”
MacKinnon is famously private about the specifics of his secrets, at least to the outside world. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman spoke about MacKinnon’s postgame stationary bike routine on an episode of the “32 Thoughts” podcast. A couple of days later, the Avs superstar countered a question about it with mild displeasure and a desire to know where Friedman was getting his information.
MacKinnon is one of the most insightful players in the NHL when it comes to the overall philosophies of taking care of the body. Just don’t ask him about specifics in his routine, unless you are one of his teammates.
“There’s a reason why he’s at the top of the world,” Burns said. “There’s obviously some God-given talent, but there’s obviously a lot of work and a lot of dedication and time. That he is willing to share with everybody else and make everybody around him better is really, well, it’s special.”
Maybe Burns would be willing to offer up a secret or two? Something that even he made him go, ‘Wow?’
“There have been lots,” Burns said. “He might share it with us, but I ain’t sharing it with anyone else.”
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Corey Masisak
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