BETTING BIG ON BARKOV
Aleksander Barkov recently signed a six-year extension with the Florida Panthers worth $5.9 million per season.
Some feel that’s a lot to give to a 20-year-old, but many believe that will be a team-friendly deal a couple years down the road. Count me among the latter group.
When you hear the name Barkov you don’t think about a prolific high-flying offensive player, but he has quietly been a very productive player for the Cats.
At just 20 years of age, Barkov is enjoying an excellent season by any standards. He’s playing big minutes against top competition and is scoring at a 27-goal, 65-point pace on an 82 game basis. Obviously he probably won’t reach those totals this season because he missed a handful of games due to injury, but let’s say he stayed healthy and accomplished such a feat. He’d be on a pretty short list of players who scored at least 25 goals and tallied 60+ points as an 18, 19, or 20-year-old since 2010.
Players who have done so are Steven Stamkos, Ryan Johansen, Jordan Eberle, Sean Monahan, John Tavares, Jeff Skinner, Nikita Kucherov, Tyler Seguin, Gabriel Landeskog, Matt Duchene and Filip Forsberg, according to hockey-reference.
That’s a pretty good group to be in and it puts in perspective how impressive Barkov’s per game totals are.
What’s most impressive about Barkov is that he hasn’t been milking all his points from special teams. He’s been a legitimate point producer at 5 v 5.
Since the beginning of 2014-15, Barkov’s sophomore season, his production has been better than that of Ryan Johansen, Ryan-Nugent Hopkins, Sean Monahan and Claude Giroux, among others.
For the purpose of comparison I used almost exclusively centers in the table above, but know that Barkov’s points per 60 minutes is also higher than some big name players such as Phil Kessel, Henrik Zetterberg, James Neal and Milan Lucic, among others.
When you factor in that Barkov also brings a well above average defensive game to the table, it’s hard not to think the Panthers will easily get their money’s worth on this contract.
I mean, in today’s NHL 65 points (per 82 games) is a lot, especially when you bring strong defensive game to the table. Barkov is still improving, too, so there stands a very good chance that Barkov looks underpaid within a few years time.
GM Dale Tallon bet big on Barkov and, by all indications, it looks like doing so will pay off.
THE BEST GOALIE NOBODY IS TALKING ABOUT
When you think of the NHL’s best goaltenders Carey Price, Tuukka Rask, Cory Schneider and Henrik Lundqvist, along with a couple others, often come to mind.
Well, there’s a goaltender who, despite out performing all of them this season – and that’s tough to do – isn’t getting much recognition for his lights out play.
That goaltender is 23-year-old Petr Mrazek.
Among 34 goaltenders with at least 20 starts this season Mrazek ranks 1st with a .932 save percentage through 33 games. Mrazek is tied for 1st with Cory Schneider with a 2.03 goals against average and also leads the league in quality starts percentage, according to hockey-reference.
The best compliment a goaltender can get is to say he gives his team a chance to win every night and that statement holds true for Mrazek more than anyone else.
Of the 34 goaltenders that have started at least 20 games all but one has posted a sub .850 save percentage in at least one. The exception: Petr Mrazek.
He has quickly emerged into one of the best goaltenders in the NHL and, at 23, there’s no reason to believe he won’t remain one for years to come.
TOO MANY DUCKS IN THE POND
They say you can never have too many quality defenseman in today’s NHL.
Well, the Anaheim Ducks are certainly putting that theory to the test.
With Simon Despres and Cam Fowler out of the lineup the Ducks leaned on Shea Theodore and Josh Manson to eat up some of their minutes. Both players have been very good and now, with Despres back and Fowler’s return imminent, the Ducks have too many blue liners.
Add Sami Vatanen and Hampus Lindholm to those mentioned above and the Ducks have six(!) NHL blue liners 25 years old or younger. Factor in Brandon Montour, Jacob Larsson and Marcus Petterson are well on their way and suddenly the Ducks can afford to move one of their defensemen for help up front.
So, which defenseman could be on the move?
Friedman: I could see one of Vatanen or Lindholm going, especially the one Bob Murray thinks is going to be harder to sign. #NHLDucks — Chris Nichols (@NicholsOnHockey) January 29, 2016
For context: both Vatanen and Lindholm are in need of a new contract at season’s end and both will be in for significant raises. With the Ducks a) not being a cap team and b) having a plethora of quality blue liners it seems like they’d have no problem moving one of those guys for would should be a sizable return.
I’d turn my attention elsewhere, though. I would look to re-sign both players and move Cam Fowler and his $4 million salary through 2017-18.
Fowler is a good defenseman but I think both Vatanen and Lindholm are better. The numbers back me up.
Fowler is a smooth skater who can chip in offensively and log big minutes on a consistent basis. He has done so since the day he entered the league. I’m sure there would be a big market for the 24-year-old, which is why I’d move him.
I’d be looking to re-sign Lindholm, move Fowler to the highest bidder and use the $4 million in savings to cover ~80% of Vatanen’s extension.
We’ll see if Ducks GM Bob Murray feels the same way.
Written by Todd Cordell, who can be found on twitter @ToddCordell.