Barkov uses brain training as next way to improve
The past two seasons were, by most any measure, the two best of Aleksander Barkov’s career.
The Panthers’ star center followed up a Frank J.
Selke Trophy-winning campaign in the 2020-21 NHL season with 88 points in 67 games — plus, of course, a Presidents’ Trophy — last year.
At 27 and still trying to seriously contend for a Stanley Cup for the first time, Barkov knows he still needs to get better, though, even if it becomes harder each year to figure out how.
Barkov’s latest offseason was filled with all the usual sort of preparation. He lifted weights — some teammates asked if he has gotten even bigger from last year, but he said it’s nothing significant, at least — and played lots and lots of tennis to stay in shape, but he added in a trip to Switzerland to meet with a neurologist.
Barkov’s next frontier for improvement, he figured, is his brain.
“That part was new,” Barkov said. “It’s a lot different than just lifting weights or running.”
At 6-3 and 215 pounds, Barkov joked his upper body can’t really get much bigger or he wouldn’t be able to handle the puck. He’s also ever going to get only so fast because his size is so important and speed really isn’t his game anyway. The ways the best players in the league typically improve are much more subtle, and Barkov learned his biggest areas for potential growth are harder-to-train skills like vision and hand-eye coordination.
At the Swiss facility, Barkov ran through drills to figure out his neurological strengths and weaknesses. Often, athletes learn through testing like this that their reaction time can improve, but Barkov’s was a strength. Instead, he found out his vision and hand-eye coordination could improve.
He returned home to Finland — and now to Boca Raton — with a set of tools to try to improve.
There are cards used to train and strengthen his vision, and balls used to test and improve hand-eye coordination.
A set of specialized glasses, he said, has gotten a bit of use so far. These glasses cover up or cloud different parts of the eyes, which, when paired with certain drills, can train underrated athletic tools such as peripheral vision and visual tracking.
He’s still in the early stages of adding these to his routine — “level one,” he joked — but he’s interested to see how they’ll help him get better.
“We’ll see how it goes,” Barkov said.
Last year was a breakthrough for Barkov as a scorer, setting a new career high with 39 goals. With All-Star left wing Jonathan Huberdeau gone to the Calgary Flames in an offseason trade, someone will have to pick up some of the playmaking load he shouldered, and Barkov has room to improve on his 49 assists.
Around the Panthers, Barkov’s work ethic has never been in doubt. He’s almost always one of the last players on the ice after practice and new coach Paul Maurice learned quickly, too, by seeing how well Barkov responded to the high-intensity, conditioning-heavy early days of this training camp.
Now entering his late 20s, Barkov was, however, always staring at the possibility of hitting his peak or plateauing as a player sometime soon. What the Finnish forward hopes is this will be a way to stay a step ahead.
After all, it’s what a captain is supposed to do.
“The standard line that I got is, ‘You don’t know how good he is yet, and it’s very, very true,’ ” Maurice said. “To fully appreciate these guys, you almost have to be on the ice with them to watch the power that they move at and they were right. I have a far greater appreciation for not just his skill level, but how hard he drives, how hard he works in practice.
“Not that I had a low expectation of that, but he’s excelled in a heavy week, where sometimes a big man can get worn down, too, and he’s just getting stronger and faster because he drives himself. He’s just an exceptional, exceptional leader on the ice. It’d be very difficult to anybody to look at him and say, I don’t have to work that hard. If your best players are driving like he does, it sets just an incredible tone.
“When you’re established in this league as an All-Star and, beyond that, as an elite player in this year, but you’re still hanging around the rink — that’s your love of the game, so we’re really fortunate here to have a driver, a hard-working man, a guy who loves playing hockey, who’s hanging around, shooting pucks and every once in a while you see him sneak into the rink at night, go out and shoot pucks.”
PANTHERS LOSE
Florida closed out the preseason Saturday with a 5-2 loss to the Lightning at at Amalie Arena in Tampa. Star goaltender Spencer Knight took the loss for Florida, which finished 2-4-0 in the preseason.
Florida opens the regular season Thursday against the New York Islanders in Elmont, New York.
David Wilson: 305-376-3406, @DBWilson2