NHL prospects face a unique challenge in gaining weight to reach their optimal playing weight. While veterans like Sergei Bobrovsky can maintain a stable calorie intake, young players are still growing and must consume a significant amount of calories throughout the day.NHL prospects face a unique challenge in gaining weight to reach their optimal playing weight. While veterans like Sergei Bobrovsky can maintain a stable calorie intake, young players are still growing and must consume a significant amount of calories throughout the day. For instance, Dean Letourneau, a 6-foot-7, 214-pound prospect, aims to reach 235 pounds and consumes a calorie-rich diet, including cereal or eggs for breakfast, a quesadilla with yogurt for lunch, and multiple steaks for dinner. However, merely increasing calorie intake is not enough. To gain weight effectively, prospects must focus on clean eating, avoiding unhealthy foods that can negatively impact their performance and health. Nutritionist Julie Nicoletti recommends a balanced diet that includes oatmeal, fruit, protein shakes, eggs, avocado, chicken, and vegetables. Jonathan Morello, a 6-foot-2, 187-pound prospect, strives to reach 195 pounds by consuming approximately 4,500 calories daily spread across seven meals throughout the day. His favorite breakfast includes four eggs, two bagels, bacon, fruit, and a protein shake. Despite the challenges, prospects like Matt Poitras have found ways to gain weight during recovery from injuries. Poitras increased his calorie intake through foods like Chipotle burritos and peanut butter sandwiches, while other prospects like Chris Pelosi rely on late-night protein shakes to maximize calorie absorption. Gaining weight is an ongoing process for NHL prospects, requiring a combination of high-calorie intake, clean eating, and dedication to their nutritional goals.
BRIGHTON, Mass. — Dean Letourneau is 6-foot-7 and 214 pounds. By the time he turns pro, the 18-year-old Boston Bruins prospect wants to weigh 235 pounds.
“A couple more years,” Letourneau, selected 25th overall in the 2024 NHL Draft, said of reaching his optimal weight.
Letourneau is pursuing his goal with lots of gym time. He will also be busy at the kitchen table.
For breakfast, Letourneau usually eats cereal if he’s in a hurry. Eggs and toast if he has time. He gets hungry quickly for lunch. He eats a quesadilla and yogurt with granola. He snacks throughout the day.
When dad Jeff is behind the grill for dinner, Letourneau raises his hand for steak.
“I’ll take a couple,” Letourneau, a skilled center who is headed to Boston College for the 2024-25 season, said with a smile. “Two or three.”
Letourneau admitted his parents are not happy with the grocery bill.
Hard work
On July 6, Macklin Celebrini, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, signed his entry-level contract with the San Jose Sharks. The stocky 6-foot, 190-pound Celebrini appears to have a body primed for NHL contention.
Connor Bedard, the 2023 No. 1 overall pick, entered the draft at 5-foot-10 and 185 pounds. Bedard’s stocky build has helped the Chicago Blackhawks center win the Calder Trophy, among other honors.
Most teenage hockey players are not that well prepared or developed.
Jonathan Morello, the Bruins’ 154th overall pick in 2024, is a 6-foot-2, 187-pound forward. The rangy 17-year-old will be a freshman at Clarkson University in 2025-26. By summer’s end, Morello hopes to weigh 195 pounds.
That won’t be easy.
“It’s definitely a struggle,” Morello said of gaining weight. “It’s something I have to work on and really focus on. It’s not easy for me. Sometimes I wish it was.”
Morello is more the rule when it comes to NHL prospects. They are still years away from breaking into the league, and one of the biggest reasons is that their bodies are still under construction.
For example, a 35-year-old veteran like Sergei Bobrovsky (1.88 m, 85 kg) has stabilized his calorie intake. NHL wannabes are busy eating all day long.
“The pros know what their playing weight should be,” Bruins nutritionist Julie Nicoletti said. “They know how to manipulate what they do and what they eat to maintain that playing weight. Whereas an 18-year-old is still growing. Their body is still changing so much. So for someone who’s a little undersized, we kind of force their progression a little bit, trying to get them bigger and stronger as quickly as possible.”
Bruins nutritionist Julie Nicoletti says it’s “a job” for NHL prospects to maintain their weight. (Photo courtesy of Bruins)
During the off-season, Morello aims for a daily calorie threshold of 4,500 calories. Meal frequency is just as important, if not more so, than total intake. The 17-year-old eats seven times a day between skating and off-ice workouts.
“If I eat three meals throughout the day, that’s not enough to sustain me,” Morello said. “So I have to wake up early, eat, and then eat every three hours until I go to bed.”
Breakfast is Morello’s favorite. A typical spread includes four eggs, two bagels, bacon, fruit, and a protein shake.
The rest of the day, Morello aims for 25 to 30 grams of protein at each meal. Even if he’s not hungry, eating is crucial to reaching his goal.
“It’s a job. It really is,” Nicoletti said. “We think losing weight at our age is hard. Gaining weight at their age is really challenging. It’s not fun for them to feel so full all the time. For some kids, it feels like their energy is being sucked away because they’re using so much energy to digest their food. For some, their stomachs can’t handle it. It’s not for the faint of heart.”
Clean eating
For some prospects, the path to weight gain is as simple as looking at a friend’s plate. In Nicoletti’s world, she encounters teenagers who perform what’s known as a dirty bulk.
Pizza, fries and candy can help a youngster with no professional aspirations on the ice to live up to expectations. The same goes for an NHL prospect. However, his performance would suffer.
“They really don’t feel good,” Nicoletti said. “It’s bad for their gut microbiome. It’s bad for their mental health. It’s bad for their performance. It’s bad for their body composition.”
The point is that quality matters.
For a typical off-season day, Nicoletti recommends a sample menu:
- First breakfast: oatmeal with fruit and peanut butter
- Post-workout snack: protein shake, banana with peanut butter, fruit
- Second breakfast: eggs, avocado, turkey bacon, fruit, potatoes
- Lunch: burrito bowl with double chicken, rice, beans, vegetables
- Snack: yoghurt, fruit
- First dinner: meatballs
- Second dinner: salmon, vegetables, pasta
- Bedtime snack: protein shake
GO DEEPER
Six Diet Tips From an NHL Nutritionist: How Young Players Can Eat Like Pro Athletes
Matt Poitras played 33 games for the Bruins in 2023-24. Shoulder surgery on Feb. 7 ended his first season.
In some ways, the procedure helped the 20-year-old’s physical progress. He found it easier to gain weight because doctors forbade him to go on the ice after the surgery. Poitras estimates he’s gained about nine pounds since his last game.
Chipotle is a favorite for lunch: burrito, chips, queso. Afternoons are for peanut butter sandwiches.
“I’ve never really been able to gain a lot of weight,” Poitras said. “So it was kind of hard. But it also helped because I was basically just training and I didn’t skate for three months. So I wasn’t burning as many calories. It was easier to maintain the weight if I gained it with muscle.”
One of Nicoletti’s top tips is the protein shake before bed. She explained that it’s easier to maximize your intake by drinking calories rather than eating them. A 500-calorie smoothie late at night is a bang for your buck.
“That’s the biggest thing that helps me gain weight,” Chris Pelosi, a 19-year-old Bruins forward, said of his protein drink. “Because if I drink it right before bed, I don’t burn it off right away. It just stays there. The next morning, I can just start over.”
Pelosi is a freshman at Quinnipiac University this fall. The 6-foot-1, 181-pounder wants to weigh 195 pounds by the time he turns pro.
“You burn just as much,” Pelosi said of shifting intake over expenditure. “You just have to force it down.”
(Top photo of Dean Letourneau: Danielle Parhizkaran/Getty Images)
