It is tough to figure out how players should be building in the off-season if you are not a high-level trainer (which I am not), but I don't think bulking up is going to help Tkachuk. Sure, it will make him more difficult to handle in front of the net and in the corners, but it is going to slow him down some more.
Muscles need oxygen + energy to work. The more muscles you have, the more you will need. That's why you often see in the UFC a 'bulky looking dude' start off great, but is noticeably more gassed than the competitor who is skinner, but doesn't LOOK as fit. Those muscles demand a tonne of oxygen.
So when you are watching hockey, it is tough to figure out sometimes if a guy is lazy, or he is out of shape, or if he is in extremely good shape but has trained wrong.
Iginla started training to avoid bulking up so that he could maintain that extra half-step. I remember looking at Monahan and thinking: "I think he has been bulking up too much" - I do think his first half-step is an issue, and maybe later on in the shifts getting gassed is an issue. Maybe. Of course I am no expert, and just offering some food for thought.
Gaudreau - he doesn't need to 'bulk up' - that's not his game. He could bulk up his legs some more to give him more of a pull-away speed and be harder to knock down, but he should never bulk up much more than he is on his upper body, IMO, as he will just always be smaller than most guys he has to compete with anyway. It would probably hurt his game more than help it, IMO.
Mangiapane and Bennett? Yeah, they are fine as is, but they can be guys that could tack on a bit more upper body (not just legs - ALL players should probably be bulkier on the legs, IMO) since they play a 'rougher game' than Gaudreau and Monahan, and both of them are strong skaters.
That's just how I think of it. Backlund is a nightmare for the opposing teams' best forwards not because he is able to knock them down with strength, but because he can just keep skating out there and is relentless - that's how Frolik was too on that line.
Tkachuk? Just work on the legs I think. Try to develop more explosive speed - I don't think he needs better top speed, just a quicker half-step to get to the pucks with some better edge-work. Lucic is all top-line speed - one of the fastest on the team I bet, but it is that first step - always a half-step behind - that hurts his game.
Putting more upper body weight on Tkachuk will make him a bit slower over-all, but especially in the 2nd half of a lot of shifts as well as when the games wear on. He will start looking more 'lazy', but it really is him being more gassed. I THINK that Monahan should actually trim down and become more wiry like Bennett if anything. I think it would help his game out, especially since he isn't an aggressive player out there.
However, everything I wrote is essentially kind of silly as the Flames have one of the best strength and conditioning coaches in the business, and whatever problems he has seen (if any) I am sure he has the players on the right program to adjust and/or fix outright.
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