ARLINGTON, VA — Ethen Frank’s biggest training focus this offseason lived between his ears.
After spending much of the 2025-26 season as an NHL regular, Frank tried a new approach this summer, working with cognitive trainer Satoshi Takano in Toronto on the mental side of his game.
Frank, already a fast skater, discussed improving his reaction time and decision-making with the Capitals’ coaching staff last season.
“I think not panicking and just whacking pucks up the wall, and just hoping that it gets by them — I think just realizing that you can make that play and taking the extra half-second to settle the puck down, get your head up, and then hit a tape-to-tape pass (would help my game),” Frank said.
During Frank’s time in college at Western Michigan University, Takano had come in to offer a demonstration to the team. Frank finally took him up on the offer this summer, heading to Toronto, where Takano’s company, ReactForge, is headquartered. He wasn’t the first Capitals player to do so, either, as Dylan Strome has received the training as well, per Sportsnet.
Unlike a more traditional program, Takano relies heavily on technology in his training regimen, which includes work both on and off the ice.
“You’ll have tripods or iPads, and there’s arrows in different colors, and if it’s red, you go the opposite way of the arrow, and different things,” Frank said. “You try to do active memory and things like that.”
Not only did Frank find the program beneficial, but he also enjoyed the process. The work didn’t stop when Frank left Toronto, either. He can access exercises via an app on his phone, allowing him to continue the training process during the season.
“It kind of makes you feel like a kid, you know?” he said of the experience. “You’re playing games on the TV and touching and everything. It’s a lot of fun, and it’s a different challenge for sure.”
Frank may need an extra boost now more than ever. After starting last season in Hershey, injuries opened a spot for Frank at the NHL level, and he ultimately became a regular fixture in Washington’s lineup. He ended the campaign with 24 points (12g, 12a) in 62 games, impressing Capitals brass enough to ink a two-year, $4 million extension in March.
Washington’s splashy offseason, however, makes Frank’s grip of a roster spot tenuous once again this fall. With new additions in Alex Tuch, Jordan Kyrou, and Boone Jenner up front, Frank has been practicing on the fifth line at camp, and is unlikely to make the starting lineup if the rest of the team is healthy. He’ll have to compete with Ivan Miroshnichenko and Jonny Brodzinski (who has impressed this preseason) even to secure a spot as an extra forward, and whoever doesn’t make the team will need to go through waivers.
Frank, who worked his way up to the NHL from an AHL contract, isn’t deterred by the need to battle for a spot — “I almost kind of prefer it that way,” he said. And through the first half of training Camp, he’s already seeing results from his time with Takano: compared to what he did this summer, everything on the ice feels slower.
“[Takano] puts it at such a high speed, where nothing in the game of hockey comes at you that fast with that many different variables,” he said. “I think it helps (you) take that deep breath. You get a puck, you know there’s a guy coming, but you also look to see where your support is at and you’re going to take advantage of it.”
