Connect with us

Capitals Features

Capitals’ Lapierre Says He Was Told To ‘Calm Down’ While Adding Size, Muscle

Published

on

Capitals prospect Hendrix Lapierre

ARLINGTON, V.A. — During his one-month stint up with the Washington Capitals, Hendrix Lapierre emphasized one of the biggest differences between the NHL and the QMJHL that he’d called home: the size of the players. Taking that into account, the 20-year-old had one goal in mind: to get bigger. And to do that, he decided to do a little bit of everything.

Lapierre called the gym home and spent a lot of time pushing his limits with big weights, heavy objects and more. However, at times, he admitted that he may have gone overboard.

“I’ve always taken care of my body. But I think sometimes, I was trying to do a little too much maybe, because I really wanted to get bigger and stronger,” Lapierre said. “So I was always in the gym, like pushing weights and very heavy stuff.”

As he pushed himself to the limit, the team assured him that he’ll start to see results sooner than later, but not if he continued to fixate and overwork himself.

“At one point the [Capitals] said like, ‘You gotta calm down. Like your growth is gonna come when you relax and when you allow your muscles to recover,'” Lapierre laughed.

READ MORE ON WHN: Washington Capitals Captain Alex Ovechkin Officially Leaves Russia To Return To D.C.

The 20-year-old took that advice in stride, and this offseason, he’s happy with where he’s at weight-wise going into the season.

I’ve put on the most muscles, the most amount of weight, so I’m very happy about that,” Lapierre said. “You know, keep going, keep getting stronger. But I think that was a big difference. Sometimes when you tried to do too much, it’s not good for you. So that was a big thing.”

Lapierre is listed as weighing in at 6-0, 185 pounds. Not only has he been adding size, but he has also been taking part in informal skates and putting in work on the ice to fine-tune different areas of his game. Lapierre has also been training with John Carlson in the mornings.

The Quebec native hopes that the strength he added in the offseason will benefit him as he looks to crack the opening night roster for the second consecutive season. But, this time, despite limited vacancies on the roster, he wants to stay up with the big club.

“Every experience I learn in hockey makes me grow as a player, a person. I have the same mentality as last year, which is to make the team, but I do feel better,” he said. “I feel like I’ve had a great summer. I’ve put myself in a position to have success. So i’m very excited.”