The Malik Report

This article is a little "different" in terms of its Red Wings-related status, but I'm going to throw it out there anyway: the Wall Street Journal's Rachel Bachman reports that pro sports teams are focusing very heavily on players' vitamin D levels as there's a correlation between vitamin D and soft tissue injuries, and the Red Wings' nutritionist was quoted in Bachman's article:

Pro and college sports engage in “smack talk,” about maintaining healthy vitamin D levels in their athletes, says Lisa McDowell, sports dietitian for the Detroit Red Wings and a member of the Collegiate and Professional Sports Dietitians Association. “It’s a source of pride when your team checks in with a good level.” Some teams also test athletes for other nutrients such as iron and magnesium to make sure deficiencies aren’t slowing them down. Ms. McDowell aims to get her hockey players’ vitamin D levels between 40 and 80 nanograms per milliliter. Many players show up to training camp with vitamin D levels in the teens, she says. An adequate vitamin D level for the average person is between 20 and 50 ng/ml, with a level over 50 potentially producing adverse effects, according to the IOM. But some experts have said the bottom end of that range is too low, and the Endocrine Society recommends maintaining a level between 40 and 60 ng/ml. Red Wings players get little sun due to the team’s Midwestern locale. Ms. McDowell encourages players to spend time outside when the team plays in California so they can soak up vitamin D.

The Wings, like me, take vitamin D supplements as well...I happen to have a vitamin D deficiency (my initial blood test results had a vitamin D level of 6, which my doctor had never seen before), but I'm not posting this for that reason:

I'm posting this article because it's a reminder that players' nutrition and even bloodwork are monitored like never before in the NHL, with every team employing nutritionists to make sure that the players are eating well, taking the right supplements and taking care of their bodies in terms of rest and recovery from games. The Wings have spoken with a sleep specialist as well, and you may have seen some of the Tweets/Instagram pictures of the players sitting down with compression sleeves pumped up around their legs or arms to facilitate muscle recovery.

It ain't eating pizza and having a Coke and a couple cigarettes after a game any more.

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