Aleksander Barkov
Toiling away with one of the most poorly managed teams in the NHL, center Aleksander Barkov is one of those players that die hard hockey fans revere. The forward only drifts into discourse when the Florida Panthers deny that he could be traded at the upcoming draft or deadline as a result of his team’s low profile and lack of success.
However, Barkov is one of the best young players in the entire sport. Even though he’s been in the league for the past six years, he’s still only 23-years-old and trending upwards. Even more impressive is the fact that he broke into the league at 18-years-old and played at a level similar to what Seguin and Chytil did at age 19.
Six years ago, Barkov recorded 24 points in only 54 games as an 18-year-old on an outright bad Panthers team. Where the Finnish forward differs from Seguin and Chytil are possession metrics, as an 18-year-old, Barkov was a positive 51.8 CF%. That alone should have told the rest of the league what a special talent he was.
Out of obligation, I felt necessary to put this Barkov goal from last month in this comparison. Chytil hasn’t done anything this absurd yet, but there are flashes of that level of dynamic from the Czech forward.