NHL Hockey Playoffs’ Elite Edge: 3 Reasons Why Teams are Using VO2 Master Portable Testing

Leaders responsible for athlete training and health know their job is much more than just getting players in shape—they also have to determine how to unlock every last percentage point of an individual athlete’s performance potential. 

Hockey is no exception. 

In the National Hockey League, where a hundredth of a second or a half stride can make the difference between a win and a loss, that’s a massive responsibility.

VO2 Master has recently become one of the most powerful tools for NHL medical and coaching staff to assess and condition their athletes. 

Here are five reasons why.

1. Personalized Conditioning Based on Live Metabolic Metrics

Elite hockey training isn’t just about grinding through wind sprints and drills. It’s about building a physiological foundation that will carry a player through the grueling 82-game NHL schedule—and hopefully deep into the playoffs. 

The VO2 Master analyzer lets medical and coaching staff move beyond basic heart rate zones and push into direct physiological metrics.

With VO2 Master, you can get live, real-time data, including:

• VO2 (oxygen uptake) max and submax 
• Tidal volume
• Ventilation
• Ventilatory thresholds
• Training zones

And you can do it without wires, hoses, or backpacks restricting the athletes’ movement.

This allows medical and coaching staff to build highly individualized training zones based on players’ actual ventilatory thresholds—not estimated ones. 

It also helps them ensure each player is training the correct energy systems: aerobic base, lactate threshold, or VO2 max. 

With this data, NHL staff can design more efficient sessions that are shorter, more effective, and better targeted.

For a veteran forward, that might mean focusing on aerobic efficiency to aid in recovery shifts. 

On the other hand, for a young defenseman, it could be about pushing anaerobic capacity to handle back-to-back shifts during penalty kills.

2. Hidden Limiter Identification for Faster Performance Gains

One of the challenges in elite hockey is identifying why a player may be underperforming—especially when strength and speed tests look normal. 

VO2 Master allows medical and coaching staff to take that investigation deeper.

By measuring respiratory rate, tidal volume, and VO2 dynamics during exercise, team staff can potentially pinpoint where a player’s performance limitations lie:

• Is it a cardiovascular issue? (Low VO2 max or poor oxygen delivery?)
• Is it a pulmonary issue? (Inefficient breathing mechanics or shallow tidal volume?)

This kind of insight changes everything.

For example, if a player is hitting their ventilatory threshold too early, team staff can address that through specific respiratory training protocols or breathing efficiency drills—not just more cardio.

They can also identify breathing imbalances that may not show up in standard fitness tests. 

Equipped with real data about what’s holding them back, medical pros and coaches can customize solutions—and get results faster.

3. Adaptation Tracking for Peak Playoff Performance

VO2 Master gives medical and coaching staff the feedback loop to optimize training loads.

They can test players during treadmill or bike sessions to monitor how their respiratory systems are adapting. 

Are they recovering faster week to week? Are thresholds improving? Is their breathing rate normalizing post-effort?

If staff notice signs of incomplete recovery or plateauing, they can adjust the intensity, volume, or modality of the sessions. 

This protects not just performance, but durability as well.

Especially for players returning from injury or managing chronic issues, VO2 Master can become an early-warning system. It ensures they’re progressing appropriately and not heading toward overload.

Seamless Device Integration for Complete Athlete Profiling

What expands VO2 Master’s value is not only the fact that it’s wireless and motivates the athlete with live visual data, but it also provides integration with the broader sports science ecosystem.

Teams often sync VO2 Master with:

• Moxy and Train Red 
• Cyclus 2
• Wahoo
• Delsys EMG
• Garmin
• CORE

This allows expanded physiological profiles of each athlete, connecting the dots between effort, efficiency, and recovery. 

Portable Metabolic Testing Where You Are

In a league as competitive as the NHL, more and more teams are looking for the accuracy and insights that portable metabolic testing provides, whether at home or away.

From the regular season to the playoffs, you can’t afford even one athlete to be less than their best each shift on the ice. 

Every second counts, and every player has unique needs. VO2 Master data helps athletes meet those needs with precision, speed, and adaptability.

While we cannot currently state which teams are using the VO2 Master, leading-edge NHL nutritional and training staff are expanding their insights into athlete metabolic data and how that can optimize game day performance. 

This comes after several years of VO2 Master performing in elite endurance sports, the military, and first responder training, as well as research at leading Universities globally. Want to learn more about how you can use VO2 Master to unlock athletic performance? Book a demo with one of our in-house experts today, or watch a video walkthrough to learn more.