Top rookies trying not to hit the wall

The NHL’s top rookies — Matt Duchene, John Tavares, Victor Hedman, James van Riemsdyk and Tyler Myers — are in uncharted territory: None of them has ever played this many regular-season games.

The fear with rookies at this time of the year is that they’ll hit “the wall.” The rookie wall differs for players who came to the NHL from college and those who took the major junior route. College teams play about 40 games. The Western Hockey League has scheduled 72 games the past few years while the Ontario and Quebec leagues play 68.

Last season, Boston Bruins left wing Blake Wheeler became the poster boy for rookies hitting the wall. Wheeler scored in his first NHL game and had 11 goals and 9 assists through 32 games. He had 10 goals and 25 assists over the next 50 games and really slowed down in March. Wheeler was honest about tiring last year and took steps to prevent a similar result this season.

“It’s more of a mental thing than it is physical, knowing how to handle the grind,” Wheeler said. “In college, I played 45 games — and that’s half a season here. You really have to learn how to bring your focus to every game. If you take a mental night off, you’re not going to be very effective. It’s about knowing how to turn it on as the game approaches and to turn it off after the game and focus on other things.

“As weird as it may sound, it’s important to have other things in your life. It helps you to take your mind off the game for a while. If you’re sitting home grinding the game in your mind all the time, you’ll be mentally exhausted. Be professional at the rink but away from the rink, relax and focus on other things.”

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