Panthers Pulse: Aleksander Barkov Secured Status as a Generation-Defining Player with Stanley Cup

After leading the Florida Panthers to the Stanley Cup, the hockey world is starting to realize Aleksander Barkov's place as a generation-defining player.

Photo by Colby Guy

Leading up to the beginning of training camp, Pucks and Palms will be previewing each of the key pieces of the defending Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers in a series called ‘Panthers Pulse’ heading into the 2024-25 season. Spencer Knight is next.

2023-24 Stats: 23 goals, 80 points, 73 GP (Playoffs: eight goals, 22 points, 24 games)

Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov had the season of his life in 2023-24.

He captured his second Selke Trophy, centered one of the NHL’s most potent lines next to the 57-goal-scoring Sam Reinhart, and — of course — led the Panthers to their first Stanley Cup in franchise history.

Barkov was dominant throughout that run.

Offensively, he led the Panthers in points. Defensively, he helped shut down the likes of Nikita Kucherov, David Pastrnak, Artemi Panarin and Leon Drasaitl nearly completely.

He shut down Connor McDavid in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final just for good measure.

All of that solidifies him as one of the best players to play in this generation.

Ever since his breakout 2015-16 season, Barkov is fifth among centers and 12th among NHL skaters in points (651). The only centers with more points than Barkov in that span are Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Nathan MacKinnon and Sidney Crosby. Auston Matthews also sits two points behind Barkov despite not making his debut until the year after that 2015-16 season.

But no matter how you slice it, those six players define this generation down the middle, and Barkov has earned his spot in that conversation.

You can argue Barkov is the greatest two-way forward in the history of the league at this point.

His two Selke Trophies don’t match up with Patrice Bergeron’s six, sure, but Barkov is a more dominant offensive player than Bergeron ever was — and now he has a Stanley Cup to back it up.

Looking at Barkov’s career as a whole, he currently sits at 445 goals and 711 points 737 NHL games entering his Age 29 season.

Realistically, he can eclipse the 1,000-point mark by the time he hits 35 years old, potentially win a few more Selke Trophies — which he is bound to be the favorite to win going into this season — and continue to compete for Stanley Cups with a competitive Panthers team.

Whether he matches Bergeron’s Selke Trophy total or not, another Stanley Cup could already put a pretty big exclamation point on his argument to be the greatest two-way forward in NHL history.

After all, it is the playoffs where your skillset as a defensive player is tested and Barkov’s fingerprints are always all over every aspect of Florida’s playoff successes.

Regardless, Barkov’s running moniker as one of the NHL’s most underrated players should be wearing off fairly soon.

The world saw what Barkov is capable of throughout Florida’s run to the Stanley Cup and it captured the full scope of what he is capable of doing on a night-to-night basis — and what he has been doing in South Florida for over a decade now.

He is, rightfully, a generation-defining player.

Up Next in Panthers Pulse: Adam Boqvist

Previously: Matthew Tkachuk, Gustav Forsling, Sam Bennett, Evan Rodrigues, Eetu Luostarinen, Uvis Balinskis, Anton Lundell, Sergei Bobrovsky, Spencer Knight