Barkov: From Draft Day Surprise to All-Star Darling

TAMPA -Lightning head coach Jon Cooper still remembers the surprise and commotion in the Prudential Center after the Florida Panthers selected Aleksander Barkov with the second overall pick in the 2013 NHL Draft in Newark, New Jersey.

There were certainly bigger names on the board at the time, with players like defenseman Seth Jones, who went fourth overall to Nashville, and forward Jonathan Drouin, who went third to Tampa Bay, drawing far more pre-draft buzz than the unknown center from Tampere, Finland.
But the Panthers saw something special that day in Barkov, who will make All-Star Game debut this weekend at Amalie Arena. And nearly five years later, Cooper said he believes the rest of the league is finally starting to catch on to what the Panthers knew long before everyone else.
"I think some eyebrows were raised about why wasn't Seth Jones or whoever taken," Cooper recalled, sitting just a few booths down from Barkov at Saturday's All-Star Game media day outside the Grand Hyatt in Tampa. "But people do their homework on draft day. And when I first watched him play, his gift of size, skill, speed and hockey sense was remarkable."
As cross-state rivals, Tampa and Florida typically play each other anywhere from four to seven times a season, including pre-season games. Since Barkov's rookie campaign in 2013-14, Cooper said his game plan when facing down the Panthers always starts with one simple question: how do you stop him?
"When we pre-scout a game, he's circled first on the list," Cooper said. "We start out with, 'Oh, how are we going to contain this guy?"
Luckily, Cooper will catch a break this weekend.
As coach of the Atlantic Division at the All-Star Game, Cooper is delighted to finally to see how Barkov operates in the locker room and on the bench, saying "I just feel really excited that he's going to be in the dressing room with us."
That excitement wasn't limited to Cooper, as a quick survey around a jam-packed media day tent unearthed plenty of praise for Barkov among his hockey-playing peers. From veterans to second- and third-year players, there was no shortage of compliments for the 22-year-old.
"He's a tough player to play against," Islanders center John Tavares said. "I think he's starting to know his type of game and how he can make the biggest impact out there. He's starting to realize his size and his strength. His awareness and his poise with the puck is among some of the best in the league."
"He's a big guy with a lot of skill, so that's, first and foremost, very tough to defend," said Kings center Anze Kopitar, who Barkov often draws comparisons to. "He's very smooth. It's tough to chase him around like that. Maybe it's for the best that we only play him twice a year."
"He's obviously a really smart player with a lot of skill," Hurricanes defenseman Noah Hanifin said. "He's really big. He has a long reach. He protects the puck so well. Being a defenseman, he's a lot to handle in the corners."
In the midst of the best season of his career, Barkov has made the jump from star to superstar, notching 15 goals and 28 assists in 46 games, on pace to surpass the career-high 59 points he posted in 2015-16. He's also a potential candidate for the Selke Trophy, given annually to the league's top defensive forward, with a league-leading five shorthanded goals, a career-high 54.3 faceoff percentage and the most average ice time among NHL forwards (22:22).
But in stepping onto what is likely the biggest stage of his career since he first put on a Panthers jersey at the draft, Barkov admitted that the grandeur of his first All-Star Game is more than he ever could have imagined.
"It's awesome," he said. "I got here yesterday and saw everything that was going on here. I didn't expect such a big thing. I'm just happy to be here and see the guys in this room."
Although he's longer the unknown commodity he once was, Barkov said he still manages to fly under the radar outside of the hockey community, as public encounters with fans on the road or at home are rare occurrence. But, of course, that's just fine with Barkov, whose shy, reticent demeanor belies his imposing 6-foot-3, 213-pound frame.
"I'm OK with this right now," Barkov said. "I know there's a lot of players on our team that doesn't get recognition either. Florida is probably not the biggest market in the NHL. We get it, but we want to change it. We want to be a lot better in the future."
In a non-traditional hockey market like South Florida, Barkov said he realizes the only thing that will help change that is winning - and lots of it. The Panthers have made the playoffs just once during Barkov's tenure, but it was during that postseason run in 2015-16 that he said he learned just how quickly fans will embrace the team.
"I feel like South Florida is a great, great sports place," Barkov said. "It has NFL, NBA, MLB and us. If we start getting success, I'm pretty sure they'll be a lot of people to our games and a lot of fans. We all know what happened when we went to the playoffs and every game was sold out."
Until then, with his star shining brighter than ever at All-Star Weekend, has Barkov finally shed his underrated label?
"Underrated? Not in my mind," said Vegas coach Gerard Gallant, who coached Barkov for parts of three seasons with the Panthers from 2014-16. "Maybe other people don't know him as well as I do, but, no, I don't think he's underrated. I think he's one of the best players in the NHL."