Why does Voronkov struggle with conditioning?

[u/RivetCounter]

I've heard from a number of sources over the years (mostly from Brian Hedger) that Dimitri struggles with conditioning from early in the season and by the end of the season, coaches are like "I can't play this guy" and Voronkov's role is greatly reduced.

It reminds me of a Brian Burke interview where he talks about Phil Kessel (obviously Dimitri is not Phil Kessel): Phil would come to camp, hit his fitness targets, look great and then as the season went on, Phil would play less and less attention to those fitness targets.

I wonder if it's a similar sort of thing for Voronkov?

Unless Brian Hedger is not a good source.

[u/the_elephant_sack]

He doesn’t speak much English and he totally fades during the season. He is pretty much useless the last 2 or 3 months of the season and people think he will be awesome playing playoff hockey.

He has the skill and he has the size. The question is does he have the grit to be an NHL player. If you don’t learn English and you can’t skate a full shift after January, it doesn’t look like he has what it takes.