SUN MAY SHINE ON BARKOV IN FLORIDA, BUT NOT SPOTLIGHT
Two-way centre among NHL’s best, but lacks playoff exposure needed to be a star
The irony was not lost on Bob Boughner.
While talking about what’s different about Aleksander Barkov’s play this year, the Florida Panthers head coach immediately mentioned the 22-year-old’s minutes. Barkov, who is averaging three more minutes per game than last season, has been on the ice more than any other forward in the NHL this season.
At the same time, the added exposure hasn’t exactly increased Barkov’s popularity.
With 37 points in 40 games heading into Tuesday night’s game, the Panthers centre is on pace to have a career-best season. Aside from leading all NHL forwards in ice time (22:31), he has scored more short-handed goals (four) and has a plus-3 rating for a team that is minus-19 in regulation play.
And yet, outside of Florida, he might be the least known of the NHL’s top 35 scorers. Even inside the Sunshine State, where Barkov has spent the past five years, he gets far less recognition than Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos and pretty much anyone else on the Tampa Bay Lightning roster.
The latter is a by-product of playing for a team that has the fourth-worst attendance in the NHL (Tampa Bay is ranked seventh). But the reason Barkov, who Boughner said is as dominant a two-way centre as Anze Kopitar, isn’t a big star is probably due to his lack of playoff success — or lack of participation.
While Kopitar has won two Stanley Cups, Barkov has played in fewer playoff games (6) than Kopitar has playoff rounds (10).
“I think there’s definitely a sense out there that he’s definitely underrated,” Boughner said. “Obviously, it’s not a traditional hockey market where we are. Barky sort of gets lost in that a little.”
It’s not a secret playoff success boosts a player’s image. It’s why Mark Messier is considered the greatest captain to play the game and why Jonathan Toews (three Stanley Cups) was included on the NHL’s top 100 players of all time list last year and Dale Hawerchuk (one Stanley Cup final appearance) wasn’t.
When Ray Shero was the general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins, he used to say it was an honour — but also a great responsibility — to have Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin on the team, because he was entrusted with their careers. It was more than selling tickets. He didn’t want a player wasting away his prime years playing for a nonplayoff team.
Looking around the league this season, there’s a lot of that going on.
While New Jersey’s Taylor Hall is on track to appear in his first post-season and Nathan MacKinnon, who is second in league scoring, is leading the Colorado Avalanche to a possible wild card berth, there’s plenty of star talent spinning their wheels on teams that are failing them.
Connor McDavid, last season’s Art Ross Trophy winner who is top 10 in scoring, and Montreal’s Carey Price, arguably the best goalie in the world, are on pace to miss their second post-season in three years. Erik Karlsson, who came within a goal of reaching the Stanley Cup final, will not play a post-season game for the third time in five years. Then there is Barkov. Like MacKinnon, who was selected one spot above him in the 2013 draft, Barkov has played in just one playoff round in four years. Based on where the Panthers sit in the crowded Eastern Conference standings heading into Tuesday — seven points back of the Penguins for the final wild card spot — post-season play is a long shot.
“You want to win games and you want to get into the playoffs, obviously,” Barkov said. “In my career, I’m still young but you want to get into the playoffs and play there because that’s the most fun you can have and compete for something in this league.”
Barkov’s only playoff experience was in 2016, when the team won its division but was upset in six games by the New York Islanders in the first round. Still, he called it “the best time in my hockey life.” The arena was packed, the games were tense and the fans — the same ones that hadn’t been showing up in the regular season — showered the ice with plastic rats in celebration.
“We got the penalty one time because they were throwing them (rats) in the game. But that was fun,” Barkov said. “I can’t imagine what was going on in the second and the third (rounds) and the final. That’s where you want to be.”
It’s worth noting Kopitar also missed the playoffs in five of his first six seasons.
Coincidentally, he didn’t become a Selke Trophy finalist until after he won a championship — something Barkov is probably well aware of.
“I want to win. That’s all I care about,” he said. “I don’t care about the recognition. Of course it’s nice when someone talks about you, but the most important thing for me is team success. If the whole team respects you, that’s the biggest thing you can have.”
If the team misses the playoffs again, that’s all he’ll get.
I don’t care about the recognition. Of course it’s nice when someone talks about you, but the most important thing for me is team success.