Barkov is known as one of the top defensive forwards in the world
Barkov is known as one of the top defensive forwards in the world
When the Florida Panthers eliminated the Boston Bruins in seven games back in late April, there were questions on whether that was the Bruins’ “last dance” or if Boston captain and six-time Frank J. Selke Trophy winner in Patrice Bergeron was going to give it one last go in the 2023-24 season.
Considered one of the best two-way forwards, if not the best to ever play the game, Bergeron decided to hang up his skates and is no longer going to play hockey on the professional level. His teammate in David Krejci also retired from professional hockey as well.
This leaves one question: who is now the standard when it comes to the best two-way forward in the NHL? Here are a few notable players across the league:
· Nico Hischier, New Jersey Devils
· Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles Kings
· Mitch Marner, Toronto Maple Leafs
· Mark Stone, Vegas Golden Knights
· Elias Lindholm, Calgary Flames
· Sean Couturier, Philadelphia Flyers
· Mikael Backlund, Calgary Flames
· Elias Pettersson, Vancouver Canucks
· Jordan Staal, Carolina Hurricanes
· Aleksander Barkov, Florida Panthers
The list is full of players who are considered the best two-way forwards in the NHL. These are players who a team needs in key situations, when you need to win a key faceoff (with the exception of Marner and Stone, who are wingers), or one of the first guys to be backchecking when the opposition is in transition on a breakaway.
What do you also notice about the list? There are six players on this list who happen to be the captains of their respective clubs. When head coaches look at who they want as the leader of the franchise, they look at a players full 200-foot game. Yes, leadership off the ice is just as important as on, but it begins with continuously making effort plays, which can’t be coached, it has to come from each individual. Some of the players listed have already won a Selke Trophy in Barkov, Kopitar, and Couturier. There are also players who are consistently in the mix and have not won one yet in Stone, and other guys are just scratching the surface defensively in Hischier and Pettersson.
We likely will not know who the standard actually is when it comes to best two-way forward until as early as the end of the 2023-24 season. It might take a few years for that question to be answered, but let’s make an argument for Panthers forward and captain, Aleksander Barkov.
As we mentioned, Barkov already has a Selke Trophy to his name for his performance during the 2020-21 season, which was shortened to 56 games due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That year, the Panthers finished second in the Discover Central Division with 37 wins and 79 points before losing in six games to the Tampa Bay Lightning in round one.
Barkov played 50 games that year and had 58 points (26-32-58), which in an 82-game season would be a 95-point campaign. He had a face-off percentage of 54.9%, a takeaway-giveaway difference of +16 in favor of takeaways (39-23), and he had a total of only 14 penalty minutes.
Barkov is consistently, year after year, among the tops in those categories. The numbers that he put in his Selke Trophy winning season are not even career highs. Barkov was 56.9% on face-offs the year that the Panthers won the Presidents’ Trophy in 2021-22. He also followed up with a career high in shooting percentage at 18.2%. Barkov had a career high in takeaways in 2018-19 with 100, and his differential of takeaways-giveaways was +31. That same season, he had only eight penalty minutes.
Barkov finished in the top five in Selke voting both in 2019 and 2022, and won the Lady Byng Award in 2019, which by definition is “exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability," from Hockey Reference. Maybe it’s safe to say that even in the year that he won the Selke Trophy, that it was not even his best individual season, numbers wise. The trophy itself, most think of it as, once you have been finalist, you are in the class of the league’s best two-way forwards for many years to come, which many saw Barkov in that class even before he won the award. Bergeron has stopped multiple guys from winning the award as he was the standard throughout his illustrious career.
Although the Panthers captain has only played all 82 games in a season once in his career, when he’s on the ice, his valuable is as high as they come. The eye test also proves that as well as a player who has the closing speed to catch up to the opposition in transition and backcheck to prevent a shot attempt, extended time in the Panthers’ zone, or even denying a zone entry to begin with. Goalies love that.
As far as his offensive game goes, historically throughout his career the points do not really start to come until the second or third month of the season for the captain. With what Barkov does in his defensive game with not putting his team in a bad position, especially because he’s rarely caught out of position (has not had a season with 20 PIM), that gives room for other guys to get in on the scoring, like his linemate Carter Verhaeghe, who is coming off his first 40-goal season.
Barkov did joke on the 32 Thoughts Podcast during the NHL Player Media Tour in Stockholm, Sweden that with Bergeron retiring, maybe his face-off percentage would go up one or two percent on the season now that the six-time Selke Trophy winner will no longer be across the Panthers captain on draws.
Coming into this season, Barkov is in year two of an eight-year, $80 million contract ($10 AAV) and is in his prime, just turning 28 years old on Sept. 2. By the time his current deal with the Panthers expires, there is a high possibility that not only will he win another Selke Trophy, but that he himself can be spoken about as the standard when it comes how forwards should play on both ends of the ice.
