Brent Severyn, who played for the Dallas Stars in the 1998-99 season when the team won the Stanley Cup, now works with young hockey players like Zach Wooden at Addison Square Garden, where he teaches conditioning and hockey skills. Mr. Severyn says he wants to help kids avoid his mistakes. He started lifting weights at 13 and at 22 cracked a vertebrae and missed more than 30 games because of his overzealous training program.

His advice: “We want to develop muscles, but we teach them it’s not about how much weight you can lift. We’re not weightlifters.

“We want them to speak up if they’re in pain. In the NHL, there’s pressure to suck it up and play through pain, but there’s a difference between hurt and injured. If there’s an injury, we work with the doctor and physical therapist on a program for them to follow.

“The biggest problems in the NHL are bruising, knee problems, ligament and shoulder damage.”

And then, he says, there are those “unavoidable” injuries that can be limited by proper conditioning: “I’ve got two herniated discs fighting for the Stars.”