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“It’s unbelievable how much money you can spend just on equipment,” says Duchene.

It was several years ago, after Matt Duchene had been drafted third overall in the NHL and was earning a salary of more than US$4 million as a forward with the Colorado Avalanche, that his father took out a calculator and added up just how much he had invested into his son’s hockey career.

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“I was absolutely ecstatic to see the end of the hockey season,” Gretzky told the National Post in 2000. “One of the worst things to happen to the game, in my opinion, has been year-round hockey and, in particular, summer hockey. All it does for kids, as far as I can tell, is keep them out of sports they should be doing in the warmer weather.”

Gretzky is not alone. Brendan Shanahan took a break from hockey by spending the summer playing lacrosse. Hal Gill was a highly regarded high school quarterback. Daniel and Henrik Sedin excelled at soccer. And Jarome Iginla was the starting catcher on Canada’s national junior baseball team.

But multiple-sport athletes are becoming a thing of the past, as more and more young players are being pressured to play hockey year-round and even during the school day at sports academies.

“I just talked to a guy who said, ‘Wayne Gretzky’s dad used to throw his equipment in the attic at the end of spring and get it out at the end of September,'” said Robb Nelson, owner and managing director at PEAC School for Elite Athletes. “Try doing that today and see what the kid looks like in September. He might be athletic, because he’s running and swimming and doing everything else. But is he better at his sport? I doubt it.”