The most famous player on the Florida Panthers is not Aleksander Barkov. The most famous is Matthew Tkachuk.
He’s not the Florida Panthers’ leading scorer. That’s Sam Reinhart.
And he’s not one of the former Rangers now playing for the Florida Panthers — Vladimir Tarasenko or Nikko Mikkola would be among them.
But for Rangers coach Peter Laviolette, Barkov may be the toughest matchup to navigate in this Eastern Conference final thanks to his two-way ability, which officially earned him the title of best in the league among forwards when he won his second Selke Trophy on Saturday.
“I know what a really good player he is,” Laviolette said ahead of Wednesday’s Game 1. “I think we’re going to have to play well against the Florida Panthers, certainly with him and what he brings to the table, both his size and his ability, offensively and defensively.”
Florida’s top line consists of Tarasenko, with Barkov under center, and Reinhart, another Selke-voted forward, who Panthers coach Paul Maurice identified as the most dangerous for the Rangers at any point in the series. It looks like he will be playing against a line that has been determined to be.
In the second round, he was heavily loaded against Bruins star David Pastrnak.
According to Natural Stat Trick, when Barkov was on the ice with Pastrnak, the Panthers shot 62.86 percent throughout the series.
When Pastrnak left the matchup, that number dropped to 46.67 percent.
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That’s exactly the kind of impact the 28-year-old could have on the series.
“The great thing about Barkov is that he didn’t settle for any particular game,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “He didn’t decide at 26 years old, ‘This is who I am as a player, I don’t need to add anything. I don’t need to improve.’ He’s a constant player.”
“Improvement is not just the five things you’re good at, it’s getting better at it. Great improvement means those five things are my core, and adding these two things makes me a different player. He’s become a more well-rounded player. He’s more physical, he’s faster. He’s always been more defensive. He’s more offensive. I think it’s more dynamic.”
Sure, Barkov’s resume includes scoring 80 points in a regular season.
“It’s going to be a big challenge,” Barkov said of facing the Rangers. “They have a lot of good players offensively. Good lineup overall. It’s going to be a big challenge for us. I think we’ll be ready for it.”
