In the 20 weeks between the team's playoffs-series loss to Pittsburgh and the start of a new training camp last week, Columbus Blue Jackets players found many ways to decompress - or, in some cases, get back to work. Here's a sampling of the highlights they recently shared with The Dispatch.

Dalton Prout and Boone Jenner tackled the 50-mile route of Pelotonia.

Brandon Dubinsky snagged a toddler-sized rockfish in Alaska and later, in Mexico, got cozy with a sizable snake.

The most daring experience of the offseason for members of the Columbus Blue Jackets, however, might have played out in the home of Mark Letestu: He and his wife, Brett, potty-trained their 3-year-old.

In the 20 weeks between the team's playoffs-series loss to Pittsburgh and the start of a new training camp last week, Jackets players found many ways to decompress - or, in some cases, get back to work.

Here's a sampling of the highlights they recently shared with The Dispatch.

Brandon Dubinsky

28, center

A rockfish proved no match for Dubinsky.

After pulling it about 200 feet off the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, he reeled it into the boat and snapped photographic evidence of the haul.

"We didn't measure it, but it was on the bigger size for that type of fish," he said. "The guy said those fish can get up to a couple of hundred years old, too."

Fishing and boating with family and friends near his homes in Anchorage and Big Lake, Alaska, are must-do's for Dubinsky in the offseason.

He spent about four weeks in Alaska during the summer, then headed south for warmer weather - and more-exotic animals.

With wife Brenna, infant son Brady and some friends, he spent a week in August in Punta Mita, Mexico, where he snorkeled, golfed and drank margaritas.

One afternoon, a resort employee showed off some animals - including a hedgehog; a small crocodile; and a 12-foot albino Burmese python, which Dubinsky courageously draped around his shoulders.

"It was strong," he said. "When it started wrapping, you could feel it."

Dubinsky continued his travels during Labor Day weekend, attending a friend's wedding on a Montana ranch.

"There was no cellphone service," he said. "It was nice that no one could get ahold of me. I just really relaxed and recharged the batteries."

Dalton Prout

24, defenseman

Before May, the extent of Prout's bicycling experience had started and ended with rides as a boy growing up in Ontario.

After hearing about Pelotonia in the spring, though, Prout saw the annual fundraiser for cancer research as a perfect opportunity to buy the road bike he had long wanted.

"I was sitting with Boone, and I told him: 'I'm going to do this. Do you want in?'??" he recalled.

Jenner, 21, accepted the challenge on the spot.

Training for the race was a welcome change of pace, Prout said. Most Saturdays, the two rode 15 miles on bike trails through New Albany, said Prout, who also formed a weekly boxing group with teammates.

"It was a good chance to . . . not be in the setting of the hockey rink."

Prout doesn't know how long they were on wheels- they took food and Gatorade breaks to socialize - but the experience left an impression.

"It was very tiring," he said. "My butt was sore; my legs were sore."

Most important, though, the two helped raise thousands of dollars for a good cause.

Jack Johnson

27, defenseman

A week after the season ended in late April, Johnson found himself back at work - in a library.

He enrolled in the six-week spring term at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he played hockey for two years before turning pro.

His schedule of three courses - communication, political science and psychology - kept him in class from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays. Although he has taken one or two classes each offseason, the load this year was his heaviest since he joined the league in 2007.

With homework time - plus training in the mornings - he had some long days.

"It was tough," said Johnson, who hopes to graduate next year with a bachelor's degree in political science or psychology. "You really have to prioritize."

He enjoyed his political-science class most, as it helped him catch up on current events he might have missed during the Jackets' postseason play.

Fortunately, he had encouragement from his girlfriend, to whom he proposed in May.

Johnson said that going back to school at Michigan was a "no-brainer," especially given that a hockey player's career has a shelf life.

"I took a lot of pride in going there, and I wanted to finish what I started."

Scott Hartnell

32, left wing

Hartnell has yet to play a regular-season game for the Blue Jackets, but he wasted little time making his presence known in Columbus.

For a week last month, he trained alongside budding players from both Philadelphia and Columbus at the Minnesota Hockey Camps in Nisswa.

Traded from the Flyers to the Blue Jackets in June, he had already invited 10 youth players from Philadelphia to attend the weeklong camp on scholarship from his Hartnell Down Foundation - something he has done for the past three summers.

A day after arriving in Columbus, he asked 10 central Ohio players (chosen by Ohio AAA Blue Jackets and the Columbus Ice Hockey Club) to join them.

"I want to make a positive impact on the Columbus community," Hartnell said.

While he practiced his shots on goal or worked out in the weight room, the 20 kids (ranging in age from 10 to 17) did similar activities.

The kids also got to eat breakfast several times with Hartnell and other professionals, including T.J. Oshie of the St. Louis Blues.

"The kids from Philly and the kids from Columbus were arguing about who was going to win the Stanley Cup (this season). The kids from Philly said the Flyers, and the kids from Columbus said the Blue Jackets."

Hartnell might have found himself siding with the youngsters from Ohio.

Mark Letestu

29, center

Letestu and his family did a lot of exploring during the summer - in Columbus.

During their first full summer living in the Ohio capital, he and his wife visited the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium and COSI Columbus, and attended Clippers games at Huntington Park - keeping their boys (Caleb, 3; and Dylan, 1) busy.

"We love the new Heart of Africa exhibit," he said. "I don't know why, but my son Caleb is obsessed with zebras."

They used their zoo membership at least seven times, he said, occasionally as a reward for Caleb's progress in potty training.

They also went swimming and played in community parks.

A big baseball fan, Letestu traveled to Cincinnati and Cleveland (throwing out the first pitch at an Indians game in August) to cheer on the teams of his new home state.

Originally from Alberta, Letestu was traded to the Blue Jackets in 2011. Not until August 2013, though, did the family decide to move to Dublin. (They had been splitting time between Alberta and Ohio.)

"We kind of fell in love with Columbus," Letestu said. "The neighborhoods are great. Everyone looks out for each other."

Other players

Some other offseason highlights:

• Forward Matt Calvert, 24, married Courtney Rae on July 4 in their hometown of Brandon, Manitoba, in front of 250 guests. They honeymooned at Banff National Park in Alberta.

• Defenseman James Wisniewski, 30, and his wife, Nicole, welcomed daughter Sadie Rose on July 2. She joins big sister Jamie, 19 months.

• Like Johnson, forward Corey Tropp, 25, hit the books: He took two classes online through Michigan State University, where he attended college for three years before turning professional in 2010. He is majoring in advertising.

• Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, 26, traveled - a favorite hobby of several Blue Jackets players during the offseason - back to his hometown of Novokuznetsk, Russia, and later spent two weeks with his wife, Olga, in the Maldives.

award@dispatch.com

@AllisonAWard