Aleksander Barkov Is Your Newest Captain Of The Florida Panthers And The Kid Is About To Rule
I’m a firm believer that if Aleksander Barkov played for a larger market team, he’d be a star in this league. That’s not to say that he’s not a star already, but I highly doubt anybody outside of legitimate hockey fans know who he is like they would for a Sidney Crosby or Alex Ovechkin or Connor McDavid. When you’ve got a guy with hands like this
…he shouldn’t be considered an afterthought when people are talking about the best players in the league. But since he plays for Florida we don’t really hear too much about him until it’s time to talk about Selke finalists.
But the days of Sasha Barkov being considered “underrated” are quickly coming to an end and I think we’re going to see the switch flip this season. He’s one of the best 200-ft centers in the game. He’s got hands woven out of some of the finest silk in all of the land. He had a career year last season with 78 points as a 22-year-old. Now he’ll have the “C” on his chest in Florida to start off his 6th year in the league and the takeover is about to begin. We’re talking Selke Finalist, Hart Finalist, the works. Barkov is going to put up 90 points while also killing every penalty this year. Not many other guys in the league who can do that.
And now here’s something that means absolutely nothing but it could also mean everything at the same time. The year that Aleksander Barkov was born, the Panthers made it to the Stanley Cup Final. After that, they haven’t won a single playoff series since.
So what’s the point here? What does this mean? I just don’t think it can be brushed off as a little coincidence that the only year in the history of the organization that the Panthers won a playoff series was right after Baby Barkov was born. Now he gets the “C” stitched on to his jersey? The prophecy is about to be fulfilled. Florida Panthers going to the Cup Final this year. You can mark that one down.