No testing, shorter camps the new norm for NHLers

The strength challenges. The long, lung-busting skates. The stationary bike rides where players pushed to the limit.

Set to enter his 22nd NHL season, however, the Pittsburgh Penguins captain will have a decidedly different experience when his team assembles for training camp this week.

The league has done away with mandatory fitness testing ahead of the 2026-27 schedule, while the exhibition calendar includes just four games per club as part of a series of changes included in the new collective bargaining agreement.

Crosby, 39, said players come to camp in much better shape compared to past generations.

“It’s tough timing after doing it for 21 years,” he said with a laugh at the recent NHL/NHLPA player media tour in Las Vegas. “It’s nicer for the guys coming in … whether you played two years or 15, there was always that little bit of like nervousness. I don’t think that’s a terrible thing.

Testing varied team-to-team, but demanding cardio sessions on that infamous bike were among the exercises many especially loathed.

“There’s some positives to the testing to see where you were last year and with injury prevention,” Ottawa Senators defenceman Jake Sanderson said. “At the same time, I don’t want to be practising for a bike test all summer. That’s not gonna help win games or score goals.”

NHL Players’ Association assistant executive director Ron Hainsey, who suited up for more than 1,100 games as a hard-nosed blueliner, said camps lasting two or three weeks are no longer necessary from a conditioning standpoint.

“Our players are on the ice almost 12 months a year now, which is totally foreign to me,” he said. “I can’t wrap my head around it. Whenever I got done (with a season), the stuff went away: ‘I’ll talk to you in August and get myself ready.’

New Jersey Devils centre Jack Hughes said coaches will still find ways to gauge players’ conditioning once they get on the ice.

“The ‘skate drill’ instead of the ‘skate test,'” he said. “It’ll be very similar.”

The NHL and NHLPA also shortened the pre-season to pave the way for a jump from an 82- to 84-game schedule. That means coaches and players will have much less runway before the real action gets going Sept. 29.

Toronto Maple Leafs centre John Tavares, whose club is one of four with a new bench boss to start 2026-27, said everyone will have to be especially dialled in early.

“You’re trying to get things off and running as quickly as you can,” he said. “Every team is in a different situation, different scenario, but it’s shorter for everyone. It’ll be interesting just to see how everyone adapts.”