Infamously, Barry Melrose coached Steven Stamkos during his rookie season in Tampa Bay, and let the press know his feelings, that “[Stamkos] is not ready for the NHL.” Stamkos’ rookie season also overlapped with Gary Roberts’ last season for the Lightning, a friendship and partnership that has continued until this day.
The confluence of these two things — Stamkos realizing he needed to train hard to be NHL ready, and a good friendship with Roberts — shaped Stamkos’s off-season training forever.
Roberts realized that nutrition and the right training were important to his career at the age of 27, when he retired from the game for 18 months because his body was deteriorating.