JetBlue 2019-20 Season Rewind: Aleksander Barkov

It's safe to say the secret's out on Aleksander Barkov.
Shedding his longstanding label of "underrated" after setting a franchise record with 96 points last season, the Florida Panthers star center entered the 2019-20 campaign carrying likely the highest expectations of his career on his shoulders.

"I think that the players respect his play a lot," Panthers defenseman Mike Matheson said of Barkov last season. "It's hard not to with the way he plays… I think the offensive side of the game has really taken off, but he also always plays so well defensively and does all of the little things that don't quite get noticed."
Building upon last season's success, Barkov ranked second on the Panthers in scoring this season with 62 points (20 goals, 42 assists) in 66 games before the NHL's season was put on hold due to concerns over the coronavirus pandemic.
On Jan. 16, he also made history when he picked up the 395th point of his career during a 4-3 win over the Los Angeles Kings at BB&T Center to surpass Stephen Weiss and move right up into third place on the franchise's all-time scoring list.
Currently with 407 points, he needs just 12 more to tie Olli Jokinen for second.
Wrapping up his seventh tour of duty in the NHL, the former second-overall pick has now registered at least 60 points and 40 assists in each of the last three seasons while also lighting the lamp at least 20 times in each of the last five. Since 2017-18, Barkov ranks first on the Panthers with 82 goals.
"A high-end talent with high-end ability,"
Panthers head coach Joel Quenneville told Sportsnet when asked about Barkov in April.
"You can use him in all situations."
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Barkov's best stretch of the season came from Oct. 22 through Nov. 21. In that span, he notched 23 points (seven goals, 16 assists) while making his way onto the scoresheet in 12 of 14 games, including a stellar nine multi-point showings.
During that time, Barkov's 23 points ranked fourth in the entire NHL.
"He's that player that can control a game, can dominate a game," Quenneville said.
Making his second-ever trip to the postseason, Barkov produced at a point-per-game clip during Florida's series loss to the New York Islanders in the Stanley Cup Qualifiers this month, racking up one goal and three assists in four games.
Looking ahead, the 24-year-old center is confident that the Panthers can return to the postseason and make a deeper run in 2020-21. Entering the prime of his career, the best is still yet to come for Barkov, which is a scary thought for the rest of the NHL.
"We got good experience in these playoffs," Barkov said. "Obviously not the result we wanted, but we got in these games -- not the regular payoffs, but qualifications or whatever. It's still a playoff game.
"If you lose you're out, if you win you're in. It was good to get those couple of games for our organization and our team. Now, we've got more experience in that type of game. I think the only way is up. We're really excited about the future of our team."

COOL STAT

Barkov was an absolute demon in the dot this season.
Leading the Panthers and ranking 13th in the league in total faceoff attempts, he won a career-best 54.3 percent of his draws. Incredibly, the next-highest amount of faceoffs taken on the team were Noel Acciari's 794 -- 409 fewer than Barkov.
Barkov's best game in the circle came on Feb. 8, when he went 20-for-27 (74.1 percent) during a 3-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Overall, he registered 10 games with at least 15 faceoff wins this season. No other Panther had even one.
Since 2017-18, Barkov's faceoff win percentage has risen with each new season.

BEST GAME

Barkov recorded three points (two goals, one assist) and finished with a plus-4 rating in a 6-5 victory over the Montreal Canadiens at BB&T Center on Dec. 29.
While it wasn't his highest-scoring game of the season (he racked up four points against the Calgary Flames on Oct. 24), there's no question that Barkov was at his very best during this match against the Canadiens - a team he loves to play.
In addition to his impressive point total, he also drove possession throughout the game. According to NaturalStatTrick.com, when Barkov was on the ice at 5-on-5, the Cats held big advantages in shot attempts (24-13) and shots on goal (18-17).

Barkov's biggest moment of the contest came early in the second period, when he scored his second goal of the night to pull the Panthers even with Montreal at 3-3. Later in the frame, Huberdeau would then light the lamp twice to make it 5-3.
"It was really nice," Barkov said after the win. "It was a good crowd here."

GOAL OF THE YEAR

This is one of you have to watch a few times to truly understand the beauty of it.
After collecting a tape-to-tape pass from Josh Brown, Barkov skated in toward Minnesota's net and then proceeded to glide through the slot before floating a shot over Alex Stalock's outstretched glove and into the twine to put the Panthers on top 2-1 at 7:28 of the second period in a 5-4 victory over the Wild on Jan. 20.

"When he gets a little bit of space, he can finish with the best of them," Panthers defenseman Keith Yandle said when asked about Barkov's goal after the game.