FORT LAUDERDALE – If he could share the Selke Trophy, Aleksander Barkov likely would.
A day after being named the NHL’s top defensive forward for the second time in his career, the Florida Panthers captain made sure to give a stick tap to one teammate in particular.
“The players I’m playing with, without them nothing would be possible,” Barkov said after Monday's practice at Baptist Health IcePlex. “I’ve got to give credit to Reino (Reinhart). I played with him the whole year. He helped me a lot.”
Like two peas in a pod, the duo of Barkov and Reinhart just clicked this season.
While they both shined defensively as individuals, their numbers together were truly eye-popping. Over 772:55 of ice time together at 5-on-5, the Panthers led 50-22 in goals and 420-289 in scoring chances when they were deployed, according to NaturalStatTrick.com.
With the presence of Reinhart (a righty) also allowing Barkov (a lefty) to take faceoffs mostly on his strong side when they played together, Barkov won a career-high 57.3% of his draws.
Usually the second forward tandem over the boards for the Panthers on the penalty kill, Reinhart and Barkov combined for seven shorthanded points, including five shorthanded goals for Reinhart. Over 124:16 of ice time together on the penalty kill, Barkov and Reinhart surrendered just 10 power-play goals.
Of course, they also shared the ice together on Florida’s top unit on the man advantage.
In short, if you saw one of them on the ice this season, the other wasn't likely too far away.
“PK, power play, 5-on-5, pretty much I spend my whole time with him on the ice,” Barkov said. “A big credit to him. As a team we’ve done a lot of good things. That means a lot.”
You always hear about chemistry on offense, but these two have it on defense.
“Rarely do you talk about defensive chemistry,” head coach Paul Maurice said. “You just throw it into a bucket of ‘hard work.’ OK, they work hard, so they’re good defensive players. The reads, the sticks, the timing on the penalty kill when to be aggressive or not be aggressive. They’re equally gifted offensively and defensively. That’s a very rare thing.”
For a coach, having players like Barkov and Reinhart also makes the job a bit easier.
Who needs a whiteboard when you can just point to them?
“It’s fantastic leadership from a coach’s point of view,” Maurice said. “You don’t have to pull teeth to get players to defend hard because they’ve got to sit on the same bench as those two guys.”
While Barkov dominated the voting for the Selke Trophy – finishing with a massive 1,278-point lead over Jordan Staal in second place – Reinhart just missed out on being named a finalist with 440 points, which placed him 74 points behind Auston Matthews in third.
Reinhart also received 12 first-place votes, second to only Barkov’s 165.
So, what kept Florida’s dynamic defensive duo from both being finalists?
If you ask me, it’s just because not enough people watched Reinhart this season.
Of the 194 voters for the award, 106 left him on their ballots entirely.
But with the Panthers preparing to face the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference Final, soon more folks than ever will get to see the excellence of Barkov and Reinhart in action.
Game 1 of the series is set for Wednesday at Madison Square Garden at 8 p.m. ET.
“Can’t wait to get going again,” Barkov said.
