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Captain clean eating? Dustin Brown’s feeling great

Los Angeles Kings v Calgary Flames

Los Angeles Kings v Calgary Flames

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Some summer storylines never seem to go away. Chris Stewart’s getting it together this season. Jonathan Drouin wants a bigger role with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Perhaps this is a personal thing, but isn’t it odd when news surfaces that a veteran player is finally deciding to “eat right?”

OK, so Mario Lemieux was able to get away with his hamburger and french fry regimen, but he was one of the most gifted hockey humans ever and the fitness requirements weren’t the same when he broke into the NHL. Most can’t get away with things like that, at least not in the long run.

(Even Andrew Hammond would receive criticism for a McNugget-heavy nutrition plan.)

This isn’t to say that Los Angeles Kings captain Dustin Brown hasn’t been taking care of himself over the years, but it’s interesting that he’s emphasized his diet a bit more lately, as Puck Daddy’s Joshua Cooper noted on Friday.

Brown is 30 and has more than 800 regular season games on his resume. You’d think the micromanaging nature of sports would dictate that this change might have happened earlier ... then again, the whole “winning two Stanley Cups” thing often eases off scrutiny.

Earlier this month, Brown told LA Kings Insider about hiring a nutritionist to get beyond the “basic” instruction he normally receives.

“I mean we were told what to eat and that sort of thing on a basic level, but when you hire somebody and they know what they’re doing, that’s probably the biggest difference,” Brown said. “I think most guys in here work really hard in the offseason, whether they’re doing their own program, or Matt Price’s program, or whatever program they’re on, they’re working hard at it. I just looked at what I had been doing the last little while – the strength stuff is all very similar – but the one thing I … was uneducated about the nutrition part, so I hired somebody who knows what they’re doing.”

Perhaps the Kings should add “nutritionist” to their list of off-ice focuses, even if that item wouldn’t be a priority.

(Aside: it’s a little disappointing that Brown wasn’t listed in this 2014 Zagat’s article in which Kings players revealed their favorite restaurants.)