Radim Zohorna just wasn't physically able to play the way he wanted to last season.
He was sick in training camp. He didn't know what was ailing him at the time, and he's still not sure why he felt bad for so long.
All he knows is that it significantly impacted his season.
"I lost all my summer (training) last year because I was sick for three months," Zohorna told me this week of last season. "It was so hard, especially on my mind. Then in the season after New Year's, it wasn't bad. But my conditioning was still so down, so I just couldn't play how I wanted to play."
The way he wanted to play was with pace, something that the coaching staff has been pressing to see from him. As a big guy at 6-foot-6, 220, that speed is something that is going to take longer to develop than it does in smaller players. But the coaching staff also had concerns about Zohorna's ability to play with pace and maintain that pace over the course of a 60-minute game, and that's where conditioning comes into play.
That's why his illness last season was so devastating.
Now healthy, Zohorna relished having a full summer to get his conditioning back and better than it was before.
Both he and the coaching staff think that the hard work paid off.
Zohorna trained in Czechia with strength and conditioning coach Milos Peca, who has helped a number of NHL players increase their pace through their training. That includes Tomas Hertl, whose skating wasn't as strong as it is now when he came into the league in 2013. Peca also works with Martin Necas in the summer, and has helped him become one of the fastest players in the NHL. Through the NHL's player tracking data, Necas was clocked as having the top speed in the entire league last season at 24.9 miles per hour.
Pretty good company.
Zohorna made an immediate good impression when training camp opened last week, with Mike Sullivan raving that Zohorna had "the best start to camp that's he's had since he's been here. He looks a step faster. He looks a bit stronger on the puck. ... His fitness level is the best that I've seen it to this point."
Zohorna told me that he feels faster already in camp. He wanted to get more fit than he was before his illness, and he lost somewhere around six or eight pounds over the summer. He said that he feels lighter on the ice as a result, and that's led to his increased speed. He's also at a point where he feels he can actually maintain that kind of pace over the course of a game, like the coaching staff was hoping to see from him.
"I felt fast last season, but I just couldn't do it all the time," he explained. "Every season I tried to work on my conditioning and try to go down with my weight. I think now it's good, it's perfect."
Zohorna has been skating alongside Jason Zucker throughout the training camp practices, and the two have a level of familiarity with each other after skating together in last season's training camp too. I asked Zucker for his observations on where Zohorna's game is at right now, and he noted Zohorna's skating as something that's been noticeable too.
"He looks great," Zucker said. "He's moving really well. He's making some good plays. He's such a big body. He's so long, he can make a lot of plays. He can get on guys quickly because his reach is there. I think he looks great. So hopefully he can continue that, he's going to be a big part of this team moving forward."
Zohorna is expected to be in the Penguins' preseason lineup Tuesday night against the Red Wings, skating on the right side of the third line alongside Brock McGinn and Teddy Blueger. He made his preseason debut on Sunday, playing in the latter of the two split-squad games against the Blue Jackets. He centered a line with Drake Caggiula and Alex Nylander on the wings, and was scoreless in the 5-1 loss.
It's difficult to make any sweeping assessments after a game like that. The Penguins dressed a very AHL-heavy lineup, and the Blue Jackets dressed most of their NHL regulars. The coaching staff was focused on evaluating traits of different individual players, and Sullivan told me after Tuesday's morning skate that Zohorna was noticeably better at maintaining his pace in game action.
"Z has played really well for us," Sullivan noted. "His ability to sustain his energy level and his effort level throughout the course of a long shift or just shift-to-shift or period-to-period. That's something that we tried to challenge Z with in the offseason and certainly he's put the work in and we can see it on the ice."
There are a number of depth forwards battling it out for a limited number of spots in the bottom six this year, and Zohorna is one of those hopefuls. I asked him if he has any personal goals for himself this season, and he isn't thinking that far ahead yet. He's just trying to earn a spot on the roster out of camp, and then he'll take things day-by-day from there.
"I'm just trying to get a spot for the opening night and I'll do my best," he said.
The work he put in over the summer gives him a better chance of earning one of those spots.
