Barkov sets example with humility for Panthers entering Stanley Cup Final

LAS VEGAS -- The first time Paul Maurice sat down to talk to Aleksander Barkov, the conversation barely touched on hockey. By the second time they spoke, after Maurice had become the latest in a long string of coaches Barkov has had over a decade with the Florida Panthers, they finally got around to it.

Maurice asked Barkov where the center liked to play on the power play.

"'Anywhere,'" Maurice, speaking at Stanley Cup Final Media Day on Friday, recalled Barkov saying. "'Anywhere you want me. I'll play anywhere.' And at first, I'm thinking, 'OK, he's being nice to the new guy,' because nobody says that, ever. And it's never changed."

It was a revelation for a coach who has mentored hundreds of players in the NHL. As Maurice said earlier in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, "You end up possibly disrespecting other really fine men, [but] I've never met another personality like that at that level of player. The humility is real."

That's who Barkov is. It's who he's always been, an underrated, understated superstar just waiting to break out on the national stage. He will play anywhere, do any job, and do it better than most of his teammates (and opponents) could dream of.

That is the impact that Barkov has on this team, on the ice, off the ice, everywhere. There is universal veneration for the game that the Panthers' captain and longest-tenured player plays, and just as much veneration for the person he is away from the game, for the way he treats his teammates, the way he takes coaching, the words he says -- and, mostly, doesn't say.

"You don't meet guys at that elite level that are so genuinely humble, what's best for the team," Maurice said. "He views the 13th forward as equally valuable to the group as himself. He never put himself ahead of anybody. He is just the driver of all things."

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When Barkov joined the Panthers after being selected No. 2 in the 2013 NHL Draft, the captain was Ed Jovanovski, the franchise was in its 20th season and it had been to the playoffs four times. He made the postseason once in his first six seasons.

Now, the Panthers are suddenly the hottest franchise in hockey, losing one game in the past two rounds, and are ready to take on the Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup Final, with the best-of-7 series beginning with Game 1 on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena (8 p.m. ET; TNT, TBS, truTV, CBC, SN, TVAS).

"It's amazing, of course," Barkov said of the opportunity in front of him. "It doesn't matter how and where you've been. To be here, it's just an unreal feeling."

And though Matthew Tkachuk and Sergei Bobrovsky have gotten the lion's share of the attention, the adulation and the premature votes for the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the playoffs, it all starts with Barkov.

"The first day of training camp, Aleksander Barkov comes up to you and shakes your hand," backup goalie Alex Lyon said. "You're like, 'Holy [smoke], this guy's the man. And he has the biggest quads I've ever seen.' Little things like that, they all make a difference."

But his influence is far from just the way he treats his teammates, the options he gives his coaches. It wouldn't matter all that much if that was all he brought to the table. He it wouldn't be who he is. This player is a revelation on the ice, a true 200-foot forward who can score.

"He just does everything right," forward Anthony Duclair said.

Which was why when center Sam Bennett arrived in Florida in a trade with the Calgary Flames on April 12, 2021, when he didn't know a whole lot about the Panthers system, he would watch Barkov. He would study the center, taking mental notes on what he was doing, where he was going, the subtleties of his game and that system, a lifeline for a player just trying to hang on long enough to find his way.

"I would literally just sit on the bench and watch 'Barky' and I would go out there and try to do -- obviously I can't do some of the things he can do -- but I would try to just mimic him," Bennett said. "I think that was a huge part of my success when I initially got to Florida. I would literally just watch him and see where he would go, his reads. It definitely helped me a lot."

It's not something he's done with another player before or since.

"The main impact is when he's not in the lineup, you can just see how difficult it is for everyone," Bennett said. "Even for me as a centerman who plays behind Barkov. When he's out of the lineup, it's a lot more work for me."

Bennett laughed.

"I love when he's in the lineup. I love when he's playing," Bennett said. "Our entire team does. He PKs, he's [on the] power play, he takes the most draws of anyone. His impact on our team is -- it's endless."

In Florida's 16 playoff games this season, Barkov has 14 points (four goals, 10 assists), including five (two goals, three assists) in the four-game sweep of the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final. That came after he had 78 points (23 goals, 55 assists) in 68 games during a roller-coaster regular season for the Panthers.

In some ways, Barkov's teammates wish he thought more about himself, put himself out there.

But that's not him. It's not who he's ever been.

"He's an unusual man," Maurice said. "Because most guys I think that get to that elite level, they do have this kind of ego. It doesn't have to be a bad thing, but he seems completely devoid of ego, but still pushes himself very hard. I think a lot of times the driver is for his teammates."

They are watching. They are modeling themselves after him. They are noting what he does and when he does it and why. They are seeing how he treats them, how he treats their other teammates, how he treats, as Maurice said, the 13th forward on the roster, the training staff, the medical staff everyone.

"We live in an age of superlatives," general manager Bill Zito said. "But it is impossible to overstate the character of 'Sasha.'"

Barkov was asked where that came from, who taught him to be that kind of person.

"I don't know if I learned that," Barkov said. "It's just who I am."