Barkov joined his teammates at the Panthers’ annual golf tournament on Monday
Florida Panthers captain Sasha Barkov is back in South Florida and ready to start a brand new hockey season.
But first, there was some fun in the sun to be had.
Barkov and his Panthers teammates took to the links on Monday, taking part in the Florida Panthers Foundation’s golf tournament at Weston Hills Country Club.
While golf is not exactly Barkov’s sport of choice, he still enjoys coming out to the event. Just don’t expect him to be finding fairways and greens as easily as he finds the back of the net while on the ice.
"It's awesome,” Barkov said after teeing off at the picturesque 5th hole par 3. “Obviously golf is not my game, but it's still nice to be here with my teammates, and also with the guys who support us."
The 28-year-old is entering his eleventh season in the NHL, all with Florida, after they selected him second overall at the 2013 NHL Draft.
In the years since, Barkov has grown into one of the best two-way centermen in the league.
Last season Barkov was limited to 68 games after battling a combination of injuries and illnesses, and despite not being at full strength all year, he still was able to contribute 23 goals and 78 points.
Still, Barkov has proven that he’s capable of more, and he’ll be looking to regain that form when the Panthers take the ice for their Eastern Conference Championship-defending season in a few weeks.
"Everyone's already back here and practicing together,” Barkov said. “Seeing guys on the ice – obviously it wasn't that long of a summer, which is great – but I still missed the guys, so it's nice to be back with them."
The Panthers will take the ice for training camp later this week at the Ice Den in Coral Springs.
It’s a group that is laser focused and extremely hungry after falling short in the Stanley Cup Final back in June.
Before heading to the rink for physicals, fitness tests and everything else that comes with the dawn of a new season, the Cats had 18 holes in the September South Florida sun to enjoy.
Several of Barkov’s teammates appeared to hold their own on the golf course pretty well, but unfortunately for the friendly Florida captain, as big and beautiful of a course as it it, there was no hiding from the watchful eyes of Matthew Tkachuk.
“I've played with Reino (Sam Reinhart) a lot, he's really good, and then what I've seen from Barky out there, he's got to be close to the other end of the golfers on the team,” Tkachuk quipped. “Let's just say it's not his specialty sport.”
A few holes later, Barkov just laughed when asked how his golf game was going.
"I'm just enjoying being here," he said through a smile. "I'm not enjoying my shots, they're not really good."
Not to worry, we're only a few days away from Barkov getting back to taking the shots that helped him become one of the NHL's most feared players with a puck on his stick.
The Panthers will hold their first training camp practice on Thursday morning.
