Quote:
Originally Posted by Henry Fool
Barkov is strong at both ends of the ice but I don't think his positioning in the offensive zone has been quite as natural as some other rookies. Might be the linemates too. Haven't watched lately though. Still, only 5 points behind MacKinnon.
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I don't think you can underestimate this in his case. He is playing with Sean "frickin" Bergenheim (7pts) and Brad "fricking" Boyes (14pts) when Hertl plays with Thornton, Nichuskin with Benn&Seguin and even Monahan has a guy like Hudler who is still almost a PPG player.
But yeah, he still gets gassed out pretty fast and his shifts are generally quite short. Defensively he is already probably Florida's best forward, which is pretty insane. Against Toronto he spent the last 1.5 minutes of the game on the ice defending the lead and won two defensive zone face-offs to seal the game. Speak volumes about the confidence their coaching staff already has on him.