Winnipeg Jets prospect Zach Nehring spent his offseason chasing a very specific kind of gain: more size, but not at the cost of the speed that got him here in the first place.
The 6-foot-5 winger from Minot, N.D., said at Development Camp last month that he had already put on 12 pounds. That number mattered, but not as much as how he got there.
Nehring wasn’t interested in simply filling out his frame. He wanted to be stronger for the grind ahead while still looking like the same player when the puck drops.
That balance is the whole trick for young players trying to move up. More muscle can help a prospect survive the pounding of college hockey and, eventually, the pro game. But if the weight comes on too fast, the wheels can start to wobble.
Nehring said he had a detailed conversation with Western Michigan coach Pat Ferschweiler at the end of the year about exactly where his body needs to be.
“A lot of work goes into it. I had a big talk with Fersch [Western Michigan coach Pat Ferschweiler] at the end of the year about where I need to be at for my body, just when I’m ready to be at the next step.
And I was telling him, ’cause he told me he wanted me to put on 15-20 pounds, and I said I don’t want to come into camp or the first few skates at the beginning of the year being slow and looking out of shape. He was like, don’t worry, you’re working out all the time, just stay off the ice a little bit.”
Off the ice, the workload has been just as real. Nehring said he’s getting in roughly five or six thousand calories a day, and the hardest part has been keeping everything organized.
“I’m waking up, eating my breakfast, I’m having my 1600-calorie shake every time after my lift and just like whatever I’m doing, if I’m golfing I have to have my stuff planned out and I think that’s just been the biggest thing for me.”
The food plan has become a routine, and not always a glamorous one. Nehring said his teammates know exactly what he’s eating.
“The boys at school make fun of me, I’m a big ground beef guy, so just ground beef and rice. That’s every single lunch for me.
Just ten ounces of ground beef and a bunch of rice. Every day.”
Even that gets a little help from the condiment aisle.
“I’m a big spicy mayo guy. I love that.
A little bit of ranch maybe, but it’s been pretty consistent. I haven’t gotten sick of it.”
For Nehring, the offseason was never just about putting on pounds. It was about preparing for what comes next, and now the question shifts to how that work shows up when he returns to Western Michigan for his junior season and keeps pushing toward the next level.
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