Jumbo and Patty are physical freaks. I know for sure there is no 30+ year old player more dedicated to conditioning than Marleau. I read an article earlier this season detailing his conditioning methods and I was quite impressed. Talked about how as he’s gotten older, he’s incorporated more flexibilty into his regimen rather than just pure strength stuff. He also mentioned that last year (I think?) the trainer convinced him to lay off the offseason training a little bit and said that it totally paid off because he felt much better towards the end of the season than he usually did.
I have trouble seeing Vlasic and Burns having the patience, humility, and dedication to make changes like that. Hockey players are very much creatures of habit; they’ll stick with what got them by in their early 20’s until the day they retire. Pavelski, I think has those attributes, but he also was never a physical specimen like the four I mentioned.
Vlasic going to the Worlds heavily suggests one of two things: 1) that he wasn’t injured or dealing with any physical ailment that might have caused his game to be quite a bit worse this season than we hoped it would be, or 2) Vlasic really doesn’t care about his body, which would be quite troubling.
So yeah. I think worries about Vlasic are warranted. I would love if Wilson dangled him as trade bait, but that isn’t gonna happen.