Play It Forward B-Roll Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov goes under the radar as one of the best players in the National Hockey League. While he shines as a tremendous playmaker with the puck on his stick, he is also the best defensive forward in the NHL. It just took until Boston Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron's retirement for Barkov to win his first-ever Frank J. Selke award. He will likely win it year after year until he calls it a career. You can ask any player. Regular season stats and individual awards mean absolutely nothing once the playoffs begin. But Barkov -- like many of the league's best -- has continued his stellar form this postseason. In the Panthers' First Round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Barkov shut down 2023-24 Art Ross Winner Nikita Kucherov (44 goals, 100 assists), holding him to no goals in five games. Then, in the Second Round, Barkov held Boston Bruins superstar David Pastrnak (47 goals, 63 assists) to one goal in their six-game series. Then, to advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the second straight postseason, Barkov shut down the entirety of the New York Rangers' top dogs with Artemi Panarin (49 goals, 71 assists), Chris Kreider (39 goals, 36 assists), and Mika Zibanejad (26 goals, 46 assists) to two total goals in that six-game series. That's an honor in itself, but another honor is when the Great One, Wayne Gretzky, compares you to one of the best defensive forwards he ever faced during his Hall of Fame career. "Number 16 is the best defensive hockey player I've seen since Bryan Trottier," Gretzky said during Game 1 on Sportsnet. "And I got Bryan Trottier four games (1983 Stanley Cup Final). And what did I get? No goals. And what did we get? No Cups." Barkov was told what Gretzky said, with his response following Gretzky's remarks: The Islanders swept Gretzky and the Oilers in 1983 for their fourth straight Stanley Cup before Edmonton got their redemption in 1984, ending New York's dynasty. Trottier, who was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1997, was a seven-time Stanley Cup Champion, winning his last two with the Pittsburgh Penguins (1991, 1992). He was included in the NHL's 100 Greatest Players of All Time, with The Hockey News ranking him 31st. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xoo-VbmaUUw[/embed] Trottier joined the Raw Knuckles podcast a few weeks ago and spoke about the first time he ever played against Gretzky. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy-v5EkiBJU[/embed] Barkov is a special player, and so was Trottier. The difference is that Barkov is still searching for his first Stanley Cup. Game 2 will be played on Monday night at 8 PM ET in Sunrise, Florida. TOP STORIES
