Trocheck's Blog: Finland Bound with Barkov

I never really interacted a whole lot with Barky my first year.
It was my first call-up with the Panthers and I was still focused on trying to make the team and become a consistent NHL-er. But when I was out there on the ice and playing the game, I was watching him every time. I was always recognizing the little things he was doing and the crazy moves that he'd make. It was tough not to notice him and, honestly, it was a real treat to watch.

Back then, I don't think he knew how good he was, but we all saw it. We knew how talented he was and knew how great he was going to be. But he was still just an 18-year-old kid. He hadn't really gotten comfortable, so he was quiet. Still, he was so nice that it was hard not to like him.
No one ever bugged him to come out of his comfort zone. We wanted him to keep playing the way he was playing, so anything he wanted to do away from the rink, we'd let him do it. When he came to the rink, though, he was always one of the guys. He'd come to dinner sometimes on the road and we'd have a great time. Ever since I've been here, we've always had a close team.
On the ice, there was one specific moment I remember when something he did really made me take a step back for the first time. I think it was our second year together, when he pulled off this insane one-handed shootout move against Marc-Andre Fleury. I was just like, "What!?"
Watch: Youtube Video
It was something stupid to try. I don't know anyone who would every try that in a game. I'd never seen him try that in practice or anywhere before that. He just decided to go out there and do it. It was incredible. But I guess when you have that much skill, you just do whatever you want.
When I talk about how great Barky is, I'm not doing anything the world doesn't know. Anybody that's seen him play know he's a phenomenal player. He does everything the right way and he's a great kid off the ice. There is absolutely nothing at all to dislike about a guy like him. He's great.
I also think you're starting to see more of that now since he's come out of his shell a lot. There's a night-and-day difference between his first season and now. Over these last five years, he's become one of our best players and a leader on this team. Now that he's captain, even though he really leads by example, he's also making that next step to speak up more in the room.
We're all friends in here. He's been good at interacting with everybody.
It's funny because even though Barky's quiet, he's also a really humorous guy. He likes to joke around. I don't' remember anything specifically aimed at someone, but when he does speak up it's usually something pretty witty. It's very rare to get chirped by him. I don't think he'd ever chirp me. But if he does get you, you've got to take it and smile. You've got to just love it.
In the end, the game of hockey is supposed to be fun. You're out there with your best friends and you should be having fun with it. We like the fact that we're a close team, and it shows on the ice. When we're out there we want to be having fun and want to be winning games. Whenever you win games, it's more fun. We're a young team. I think we play better when we're having fun.
It's going to be cool to see Barky in his natural element over in Finland next week. It's going to be a lot of international recognition for our best player, and it's cool that he's finally going to be able to play in front of so many of his family and friends. Hopefully, he'll also show us around a bit. I have no idea what to expect over there. I'm just going to have Barky take me wherever. I haven't done any research about things to do in Helsinki at all. We're really going to wing it.
That said, this trip is still about points.
We need to get some wins. When we're on the ice, we're not going to be thinking about being in Finland or the fact that it's the Barky vs. Laine show out there. When we're in the game, we're in the game. We're there to play our hearts out. Hopefully, we get a couple wins and head home.
I think it's a good time for us to get on the road and have a long road trip. It's good to do things as a team. We can get some dinners, sightsee, things like that. It's a good way to build that camaraderie up. Obviously we've had a tough start to the season, but we all know how good of a team we are. It's a matter of getting all of us together and realizing it, building that chemistry.
We're good enough to be in all these games. They've pretty much all been one-goal games. If we play with a little bit more confidence and a little bit more swagger, we'll be right there. We've also had three shootouts so far, and anybody can win with those once the game gets there.
We have the talent in this room to be one of the best teams in the league, and Barky's a huge part of that. We've been friends since Day 1, and the last few years we've gotten closer. We're two of the guys that have been here the longest. We've come up in this organization together.
That bond that we share, I think you can see it out on the ice.

-- Troch