Precision Meets Performance: The Method Behind Freddie Andersen’s NHL Comeback No One Saw Coming

The Reality Most Injured Athletes Are Still Facing

Elite athletes live and work inside their bodies. They feel the smallest imbalance, the slightest hesitation, the instant a movement doesn’t land the way it should. From subtle warning signs to game-stopping injuries, they’re the first to know when their body is no longer giving them what they expect — or need.

But the unfortunate truth is that the hardest part isn’t always the injury itself — it’s everything that comes after.

From the moment something goes wrong, they’re pushed into a maze of appointments, imaging, opinions, timelines, and treatment paths that rarely line up. They go from diagnosis, to surgery, to rehab, to return-to-play training — each stage handled by someone different, each person seeing only one piece of the puzzle.

In the traditional model, athletes carry the weight of connecting the dots — stitching together input from experts who may never speak to each other. It’s a system that often leaves them with more questions than clarity.

And those questions cut deep:
Will this end my season? My career?
Is anything being missed?
Am I progressing the way I should be?
Will I ever feel like myself again?

But what if every stage — diagnosis, surgery, rehab, and high-level return-to-sport training — operated as one coordinated system?

A single plan. A single standard. A single team.

That’s the vision behind Commons Clinic’s new performance medicine approach — a model where every step of elite athlete recovery finally works together.

Introducing the Performance Medicine Approach

Created by Dr. Prem Ramkumar, orthopedic hip and knee specialist, and Scot Prohaska, elite performance coach, this method integrates surgical precision, advanced biomechanics, and continuous, sport-specific coaching into a single, coordinated pathway.

The Ramkumar–Prohaska model eliminates the disconnect that has long defined traditional recovery. Instead of fragmented steps, athletes move through one integrated pathway, grounded in three core principles:

• Surgery and performance coaching must work together, not one after the other.
• Recovery must address the entire kinetic chain — not just the site of injury.
• Confidence is as essential as strength, stability, and mechanics.

The goal isn’t just to get athletes back — it’s to help them return stronger, more confident, and fully themselves again.

Performance Medicine in Action

This approach is quickly becoming the preferred path for pro athletes — and NHL goaltender Freddie Andersen’s resurgence shows why: when the entire process is connected, the results can redefine a career.

After working with Ramkumar and Prohaska, Andersen returned earlier than projected — and performed at a level that no one expected.

In the months after surgery, Freddie Andersen:

• returned early as the starting goalie for the 2025 Eastern Conference Finals
• was named to Team Denmark for the 2026 Winter Olympics
• secured a multimillion-dollar contract extension
• and now leads the Carolina Hurricanes with Stanley Cup aspirations

These weren’t coincidences — they were outcomes earned from hard work and a fully connected process.

So what makes a result like this possible? It starts with a recovery model built to align every stage of an athlete’s journey — from the operating room to the ice.

A Unified Team with the Athlete at the Center

As part of the performance medicine protocol, the athlete becomes a core member of the recovery team, bringing the in-body intelligence only they possess. The surgeon and performance coach build the plan around that insight.

• The surgeon makes the diagnosis, drives the strategy, protects the repair, and ensures biomechanical precision.
• The performance coach rebuilds movement patterns, restores explosiveness, builds confidence, and enhances whole-body performance.
• The athlete provides real-time feedback — the sensations, instincts, and patterns no test can capture.

It’s a collaborative team moving in sync toward one goal: a confident return to elite-level performance.

For Freddie Andersen, that sense of clarity and alignment changed everything:

“After Scot suggested talking to Dr. Prem, I became confident in his ability to come up with a plan. Not just for the surgery but also a detailed rehab/training plan with Scot to bring me back on the ice with confidence, as quick as possible.”

One surgeon. One coach. One athlete — all shaping the comeback together.
No handoffs. No mixed messages. No doubt about what comes next.

Precision Surgery Meets Relentless Coaching

When an athlete needs surgery — when their season, career, or identity hangs in the balance — they want a surgeon who doesn’t just fix what’s damaged, but understands what they’re fighting to get back to.

Dr. Prem Ramkumar’s precision and continuous involvement pair seamlessly with Scot Prohaska’s high-performance methodology, creating a recovery process that is intelligent, tailored, and built around the demands of sport.

Freddie felt that from day one:

“Prem’s precision in surgery and his constant involvement with Scot’s relentless program pushed me every single day, gave me my career back, and elevated my game when the stakes were the highest.”

And yet, the most defining moment of any comeback isn’t physical. It’s the moment hesitation disappears — the instant an athlete finally stops bracing, stops doubting, and trusts their body again.

Freddie describes that exact turning point:

“For the first time in a long time, I wasn’t thinking about my knee. I was just playing hockey. That’s when I knew I was back.”

That’s the moment every athlete is chasing — the return of trust, instinct, and freedom.

Why the Sport — and Position — Change Everything

Athletes don’t just fear being sidelined. Often, the deeper fear is returning but not the same — a half-step slower, a fraction less explosive, one moment of hesitation changing everything.

And without a team that truly understands the biomechanics and demands of their specific sport, the reality is that many athletes never fully return to who they were before the injury.

No two sports demand the same movements. No two positions load the body the same way. Goalies, pitchers, sprinters, divers, midfielders — each relies on precise sequencing, force absorption, timing, and mechanics unique to their role.

As a goaltender, Freddie saw how having a team that truly understood the demands of his position made all the difference.

“Athletes in different sports all have different movement patterns, hockey goalies especially. Scot and Dr. Prem’s understanding of this was a crucial part to success in the plan.”This is the essence of performance medicine:  It treats recovery as a movement problem, not just a medical one.

A Partnership Rooted in Expertise — and Humanity

Elite recovery demands more than technical expertise. It requires trust, communication, and people who understand the stakes.

The Surgeon: Precision, pedigree, and a patient-first philosophy

Dual fellowship-trained and educated at institutions like the Cleveland Clinic, Harvard/Brigham, and Hospital for Special Surgery, Dr. Prem Ramkumar brings world-class expertise in hip and knee preservation and reconstruction. He serves as a consultant to NHL players, X-Games athletes, and Division I programs.

But what sets him apart is his clarity of vision:

“Together, our partnership creates a closed-loop communication system that puts the athlete at the center. We listen to your expectations, your goals, and what you’re trying to achieve on your court or field, and we build a tailored, highly customized program to help you get there.”
— Dr. Prem Ramkumar

The Coach: Decades of elite movement mastery

With more than 25 years coaching Olympians, world champions, and high-performance athletes, Scot Prohaska understands the biomechanics — and the psychology — of return-to-sport better than nearly anyone.

His description of the partnership is simple and powerful:

“I’m on offense, pushing to get athletes back to the field. Prem’s on defense, making sure the repair is protected. When offense and defense talk constantly, you get a great game plan.”
— Scot Prohaska

Together: A rare combination

• One plan.
• Continuous communication.
• The athlete at the center of every decision.
• Progress that moves at the pace of sport.
• Confidence rebuilt.

It’s this partnership — the skill, the clarity, the humanity — that Freddie points to when reflecting on his comeback:

“Their expertise and support as humans through this obstacle has me back with my team and with the belief I still have lots of elite hockey ahead of me!”

His story is one example — but the model is built for any athlete whose career and future depend on returning fully, not partially.

The Bigger Picture: A Better Path for Athletes Everywhere

Common’s Clinic’s new performance medicine approach is redefining recovery by addressing the fears athletes rarely speak out loud:

Will I ever feel like myself again?
Will my body handle the demands of my sport?
Will hesitation cost me everything I’ve worked for?

This model answers those questions with a path designed for the pressures of elite sport:

• Integrated care from day one
• Precision surgery aligned with performance strategy
• Whole-body training throughout rehab
• Continuous communication between surgeon and coach
• Sport-specific movement and confidence rebuilding

Because this performance medicine approach was built for one outcome:

Recover faster. Return stronger. Perform with freedom.

Ready for a performance recovery plan built around you? Book a consultation with Dr. Prem N. Ramkumar.