DALLAS – When the Florida Panthers played their first-ever exhibition game in Tampere, Finland in 2009, Aleksander Barkov still remembers being a wide-eyed kid in the stands.
“They came to play against my team, an exhibition game,” Barkov said after Tuesday’s morning skate in Dallas. “Kuli (Panthers defenseman Dmitry Kulikov) was on the team. I was watching that team and thought it was incredible. I never thought about a chance to play in my hometown.”
Roughly 15 years later, the Panthers captain will now have that chance.
On Monday, the NHL announced that the Panthers and Stars will play two games in Barkov’s hometown of Tampere at Nokia Arena on Nov. 1 and Nov. 2 next season.
While Barkov previously played two regular-season games in Finland with the Panthers as part of the Global Series in 2018, the star center confesses that there’s no place like home.
“It’s more than a dream come true,” Barkov said.
Even though rosters aren’t set in stone for next season, Barkov should be joined at the Global Series by at least three other Finnish players currently under contract with the Panthers: forwards Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen and defenseman Niko Mikkola.
Lundell is from Espoo, Luostarinen is from Siilinjarvi and Mikkola is from Kiiminki.
For those three players, this will be their first time playing an NHL game in Finland.
“I just know it’s going to be an awesome week for the players, but also for the fans in Finland and all the young boys and girls who grow up playing,” said Lundell, who last played in Finland in 2020-21 as a budding prospect in Liiga. “They’re going to get so much out of it.”
Like Barkov, Lundell knows the power of bringing the NHL to fans in Finland.
When the Panthers played the Winnipeg Jets in Helsinki in 2018, he was there.
“It’s pretty crazy, to be honest,” Lundell said when asked about returning home as an NHL player. “Back then I was dreaming about playing in the NHL one day and here I am standing talking to you guys and playing here. It’s something you just dream of. It’s not anything you plan. It just shows that if you work hard and believe in your dreams anything is possible.”
Just like the Global Series inspired Barkov and Lundell, Panthers head coach Paul Maurice, who was coaching Winnipeg at the series in 2018, said he expects that trend to continue.
“It’s such a big deal,” Maurice said. “It’s not the same on TV. The NHL is different live. It’s incredibly fast. They get a chance to see two really good teams. Both teams will be really strong again next year. They’re going to get to see hockey played at a very high level. There will be a future Dallas Star or Florida Panther in the stands that doesn’t even know it yet.”
For more information on the Global Series, click HERE.
