The Dallas Stars landed in Helsinki, Finland, several hours later than expected after a flight delay for the start of the Global Series trip last week. That meant the practice they had originally scheduled was canceled. Instead, the team went straight to enjoy one of Finland’s proudest institutions: the sauna.

This has become part of the routine for teams traveling to Finland to play in the Global Series. The Finns on the roster want to give their teammates a taste of what life is like in their home country. The Finnish sauna experience is unlike anything you’ll find in the United States. But the sauna itself is no stranger to many NHL players.

“He’s growing a lot,” said the Finland Stars defender Esa Lindell. “I feel like even on our team there are so many guys that use it. Even on other trips, guys look for places to recover on their days off.”

Last season, the sauna was part of the Stars’ outings. They went to an indoor/outdoor sauna/cold plunge in Montreal during their day off there. And it’s usually a goalkeeper Jake Oettingeran American, researching where to find one when the team travels. So this was a group that knew the benefits well before going to Finland.

All smiles and saunas for @DallasStars players at #NHLGlobalSeries pic.twitter.com/z74wEpScgu

— NHLPA (@NHLPA) October 29, 2024

Maple leaves Defenseman Jani Hakanpää, who played three seasons with the Stars, has seen a change even since he started playing in Dallas. When he started playing there, Finns and Russians were in the sauna, but not many other players. When he left it felt like half the team was there.

“As a Finn, you’re like, ‘Well, I’ve been doing this all my life. We already know it’s a good thing!” said Hakanpää.

Part of the change is growing research into the benefits of sauna use for both elite athletes and the general population. NHL players mostly opt for the dry sauna, which is usually heated somewhere between 150 and 200 degrees Fahrenheit. The lack of humidity makes the heat more tolerable. Conformable studiedsauna bathing four to seven times a week reduces the risk of cardiovascular death, lowers the risk of neurodegenerative diseases and leads to lower all-cause mortality.

But NHL gamers are among the fittest people in the population. They don’t necessarily think about their mortality when they enter the sauna. They are, however, concerned about their longevity over a season and their careers. Some studied even show an increase in cardiovascular function with regular sauna use after exercise.

Saber director of physical performance and head strength coach Ed Gannon said he believes the sauna is an effective “micro-strategy” for recovery, with the pillars of recovery being proper nutrition and quality sleep. The NHL plays so often that every strategy a player can use to gain an advantage is useful.

“The idea of ​​saunas, there’s research behind it that it can increase blood flow, the heat causes vasodilation and blood flow increases so you can flush out toxins after games or a little bit faster,” Gannon said. “What many players will do is switch between cold tubs and saunas. There is also a feel-good factor about the sauna. When you’re between games, it’s nice to regenerate mentally and physically.”

Last season, the Sabers signed a veteran defenseman Eric Johnsonin part because his wisdom would be valuable to the league’s youngest team. One of Johnson’s first tips for Rasmus Dahlin was that he should buy a sauna for the house he had bought. Dahlin took the advice of the man with a Stanley Cup ring, who is just a few NHL games shy of 1,000. Dahlin’s outdoor barrel sauna became part of his nightly routine, along with the cold tub. He was fourth in the NHL in ice time last season and missed just one game. Dahlin’s sauna has also become a fixture at team parties because it’s big enough to fit a group.

“You feel incredible after,” Dahlin said.

Johnson began to embrace the idea of ​​using the sauna when working with Nathan MacKinnonHis coach, Marcin Goszczynski, in Colorado. MacKinnon’s fitness and nutrition habits are legendary in league circles, so his teammates wanted any tips they could get.

“After the game, after practice, on an off day, those can be huge boosters in recovery and the immune system and all that,” Johnson said. “He was the first one who really forced it on us, and then I’d say eight of us probably had saunas at our homes in Colorado.”

Gannon is quick to point out that not all players will use the same recovery strategies. The Sabers have a large sign in their weight room that lists the symptoms a player may experience and the appropriate recovery strategies for that system listed below. The important thing for Gannon is that every player has a recovery routine. He doesn’t want players to just play a game and leave the rink.

That’s part of the sauna’s appeal. For many, it helps them fall asleep faster after games, which is crucial for athletes, along with diet. But playing in the NHL is not set up to optimize sleep quality.

“The challenge for hockey players is that they play at night,” Gannon said. “They’re caffeinated before the game and consuming simple carbohydrates and sugars, and you have the energy and excitement of the game itself.

“The sauna can be part of it. I think a lot of research on sleep hygiene in the general population you’ve heard take a warm shower before going to bed. The sauna works like this. The heat of the sauna allows the parasympathetic nervous system to take over a little more, which can help relax the players. It’s a great post-game strategy to bring them back as well as increase blood flow and improve waste removal.”

But as Gannon noted, not all players have the same recovery routine. Sabers forward Zach Benson he found that he enjoyed the mobility work and the hot tub. Benson lived with Dahlin last season as a rookie, but did not frequent the backyard sauna.

“I’m not going in there,” Benson said. “I’m afraid of those things. too hot I love hot tubs and only hot tubs. It has a hot tub, but it’s covered in the winter. I don’t dive in the cold either. I usually go in the hot tub here. I don’t want to do too much recovery. I have no problems sleeping. I probably would if I had trouble sleeping, but I have a problem with too much sleep.”

Sabers goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen he laughed when the subject of the sauna’s popularity came up. Him and fellow Finn Henri Jokiharju just kidding about the post-workout rush hour to hit the sauna. The rest of the league is catching up to what the Finns have always known.

“In Finland, people used to give birth in saunas, so some people have given birth in saunas,” Luukkonen said. “I wasn’t born in a sauna, but I guess I was very young.”

Having a sauna at home in North America is seen as a luxury. In Finland, it is common. And amenities like the Stars and Florida Panthers visited last week are everywhere in Finland. The experience is comparable to a golf club in the United States, where people gather socially and can enjoy meals between sessions in the sauna.

“I remember we always went on Saturday night and had a sauna and the whole family was there, me mom and dad and my sister,” Hakanpää said. “It was like a weekly thing every Saturday. And then the coming summer being at my grandparents, it would be more often. You would swim in the lake and then go to the sauna. It’s been a part of my life since I was little. And it still is. It’s nice to come home in the summer when we have one. We’ll probably use it four times a week.”

Using the sauna and cold immersion together is the preferred tactic for many NHL players. Johnson said she’ll go into the sauna for 15 or 20 minutes, then do a three-minute cold soak and repeat the cycle three times. Some players only use the sauna on training days, but others use it more often. When the Stars defender Ilya Lyubushkin played in Buffalo, had a barrel sauna in the back yard. He would come in at night after the games and then lie on the snow bank as a cold dip. One of Hakanpää’s favorite parts of the sauna is the way it forces him to disconnect.

“You just have to hang in there with your teammates,” he said. “There are so many aspects. Obviously, the physical part, but then also the mental part. Even if you are there alone. It’s nice and quiet and you have time to reflect on what’s going on.”

Gannon sees this as a continuation of the modern athlete focusing more and more on training, nutrition and recovery. He always leads the Sabers players through a light workout when they land for a trip. It now sees players using spa facilities at hotels for extra recovery. Johnson has been in the league since 2007, so he’s seen the change in mentality firsthand.

“I would say the biggest difference is when we got into the league, guys would take a case of beer in the sauna and drink beer and sit there,” Johnson said. “There is some of that now, but not to the extent it used to be. It’s always been in the culture.”

(Illustration by Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; photos: Eliot J. Schechter / Getty, Patrick McDermott / NHLI and iStock)