The Hockey PDOcast - Aleksander Barkov’s Defensive Impact, and Why It Fuels Florida’s Success

Episode Date: December 4, 2023

Dimitri Filipovic is joined by Darryl Belfry to break down the tape on Aleksander Barkov, the unique impact he has on games defensively, and why it helps make everything work for the Panthers.If you'd like to participate in the conversation and join the community we're building over on Discord, you can do so by signing up for the Hockey PDOcast's server here: https://discord.gg/a2QGRpJc84This podcast is produced by Dominic SramatyThe views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate. If you'd like to gain access to the two extra shows we're doing each week this season, you can subscribe to our Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/thehockeypdocast/membership If you'd like to participate in the conversation and join the community we're building over on Discord, you can do so by signing up for the Hockey PDOcast's server here: https://discord.gg/a2QGRpJc84 The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

Since 2015, it's the Hockey PEDEOCast with your host, Dmitri Filippovich. Welcome to the Hockey PEDEOCast. My name is Dmitra Vilippovich and joining me as my good buddy, Delfti Delle. What's going on, man? Here we are again. Can't wait to get going. Here we are again indeed. So today we're going to do the Alexander Barkov deep dive as we've promised and hinted to

that for a couple weeks now. You know, what's interesting about Barkov here is that his offensive stats are clearly good, right? I think he's performing at about a 86 point pace over a full season, which a lot of players would love to have. I think that for the most part, though, it flies under the radar or gets lost in the shuffle just because everyone these days is seemingly putting up these video game numbers, right? We're almost becoming, I think, desensitized collectively by it. Like, I don't know if you feel the same way, but for me to be truly blown away by a player's offensive stats these days they have to be just so preposterous.

And increasingly so, it seems, to get my attention, right? It seems like everyone is putting up these numbers that would have seemed unthinkable about 10 years ago. So we're clearly not doing Barkov just because of that in the offensive production, but he does it in a different way than a lot of the other players we've previously highlighted on the show. And that doesn't take away from how special he is. If anything, I think the fact that he merits his deep dive and it does it the way he does

it makes him even more of a unicorn than maybe some of the guys who've done so far. Yeah, I mean, like, the thing with Barkoff is, like, he, he has a way of falling into that category where he just, he's, he's consistently performing, like, offensively, but he doesn't have those, like, gaudy stretches that are characteristic of a lot of players where they'll go on, you know, two, two and a half point pace for eight or ten games. And then that, you know, really balloons or boost them. He just keeps going very steady. He doesn't really put together a lot of big knights.

Like he's not doing hat tricks or four point nights or stuff. He just chips away. But to your point, like Barkoff is you don't, you shouldn't be tuning into Barkoff because you want to find out what he's doing offensively. You tune in to Barkoff because this guy is a spacing and mathematical genius in the way in which he manages the ice. And that to me is why you tune in. It's very similar to like a Bergeron or a Kopitar. They're just very, they're just, they're masters of positioning.

And they're in the right spot and do the right things all the time. and that's why you tune into him. I agree with that. At the same time, though, we should say that he probably has a hundredth percentile puck skills out of everyone in the league, right, including his top peers. Like what he's able to do with the puck on a stick is truly remarkable as well. Now, he, because of the way he chooses to play and some of the other tendencies, it doesn't necessarily always flash, if anything, it kind of, you know, different body types,

certainly, but it reminds me a bit more of a Pavel Datsuk, for example, where maybe in a different environment or a different situation, or if he was just wired differently, he probably could produce more offensively, right? But because of that positioning and his attention to detail and his discipline, which we're going to highlight on today's show, sometimes maybe that leaves him out of situations

where he could produce a few more points, but it is a net positive in the grand scheme of things. So maybe that's a good comparison. Obviously, because of the body type, right? We tend to think about Kopitar, and it was really interesting watching a couple weeks ago where we got to see Barkov and Koputar go head to head in LA and it was those two lines

which have been two of the best five on five forward lines in the league this season and it was almost just these like two superpowers just running headfirst at each other and almost canceling each other out right but yeah that's sort of the comp that I tend to think I just think that the and I'm maybe guilty of myself because I started off

this episode by talking about how he's now putting up these crazy offensive stats but the skill is still there in abundance well where he gives up some in the way of point production is that he leaves situations to err on the side of being in the next best position.

So he's like he's like the prototypical like next thinker. So when he's in a play and the play starts to, you know, mature and now it gets to a point where there's a time to move to the next play. He's going there every time where other players, they see that the next play could be available, but they will hang around a little bit longer inside that play. Or maybe they'll jump on the offensive side on a chance that they might get that puck. And those do lead to points. There's no question about that.

There is such a thing as overstaying a play and it leading to a positive result offensively. but it also more often than not, it leads to problems defensively. And he just is unwilling to put himself consistently in those situations. He's just going to move to the next best play every time. And part of it is just how cerebral he is. He's just so intelligent in his positioning. I think it's just he just knows too much about where he needs to be next, that he just physically can't do it.

I think one of the interesting comparisons to him, And this one might shock you is if you watched carefully or went back to rewatch carefully, Jack Eichel's Stanley Cup run. Because I think that there's a very good comparison as to what Barkoff actually does in what all of a sudden the Vegas Knights were able to get Jack Eichel to do. because Jack Eichael became an expert at spacing and positioning and being in the right areas all the time and having pucks come through him and just be in that spot, but yet find a way to just consistently chip away at being very good offensively. And the year before that, it was McKinnon who had made that switch.

You kind of like found his way onto that side. The other part about Barkoff and his point production is finding, a way for him to be a high point producer on the power play has not really become a thing yet in in in Florida. He just hasn't broke through where some of those other guys they just have. Even when you look at Bergeron when he was in his heyday, he was still producing at a very high rate on the power play. And Barcoff seems to do a lot of his damaged five on five to your point. He's one of the best in the league that way. he does do good job on the power play but you wouldn't call him like he he you wouldn't call him elite or world class on the power play yet which I think is a very interesting thing because it's not to say that he couldn't his skill sets just he could he might be able to do that so I think that's an interesting way of kind of maybe describing where like what are you looking for when you're looking at a barkoff which I was always confused the last few years when I watched him I'm like what is it a match.

looking at here. I just see a guy who plays it safe all the time, but then he's in the right spot all the time. And then you see the skill pop and you're like, how the hell is this guy not a hundred point guy? Like what is going on? So it is. So you kind of got to train yourself to see a guy like that. Certainly. And that's hopefully we're going to help people with today. You know, in today's game, uh, as I mentioned just seemingly everyone can score, right? Skill is just available in abundance. And I think that actually makes a skill set like, and maybe his habits even more valuable. And you mentioned the 5-15 impacts.

I mean, this year, he has just been outrageous. Like that line with him, Reinhardt and Evan Rodriguez, he's played nearly 270-5-15 minutes. Goals are 18 to 4 for the Florida Panthers. And I went back and watched those as I watched every shift. He's played the season to prepare for this. And two of them were like point shots, which are just, you know, whatever goals against.

One of them came against Islanders in the most recent game where he literally stepped on the ice and wasn't even in the frame. And they dinged them with a goal against there. And so, you know, he's controlling 61% of the shot share, 64% of the high danger share. Like he scored 5-5-on-5 goals himself. So that means he's outscored his opposition in his minutes single-handedly.

And I guess the reason why I wanted to do this, first off, I remember at your coach's conference, which I referenced on the show a couple years ago, I think you got a question during the Q&A and someone asked you from the audience. which player you really wanted to kind of dig into and study. And I think the first name you mentioned actually at the time was Sasha Barkoff. So this is partly self-serving to actually have an excuse to do so.

But I think the other reason why I wanted to mention it is because you kind of noted how you got to be a bit more trained or really kind of attuned to the details to appreciate some of this stuff. I think part of that is offense is just so much easier for us to quantify. And it's also so much more, I guess, traceable, right? I think everyone knows if you score a goal or set up a great chance. It's very easy to kind of pinpoint what happened there, who was responsible, and how to kind of divvy out the credit for it.

For defense, it's more abstract because I guess in theory, the best defensive play is just the absence of anything happening, right? And it's like, all right, nothing happened on that shift. And if you're a top player playing heavy minutes against other teams' top players, that is a massive advantage. But how do we quantify that? how do we show the credit for that? What happened to result to that? Because obviously the circumstances and the decision making of everyone on the else else on the ice can kind of play a

role in that. For Barkov, I really want to spend these next 40 minutes we have here getting into those details of what he does and what these habits are that keep churning out these results because he really has viably stepped in and filled the void left by Patrice Bergeron's departure. Right. Like I think he is the runaway Selkie favorite this season. His numbers are just as good, if not better than when he won the award a couple years ago. And his ability to just play those top minutes against other team's top players and just completely suppress them and not give them anything is remarkable. And he does it in a well-rounded way, right?

It's not just a matter of, all right, he's only in the offensive zone or, okay, he's one of these players where he's just holding the puck up against the boards for 40 seconds and then getting off the ice and nothing is happening. Like, he's turning defense into offense. And so I kind of want to illustrate all that. So with that said, Darrell, what is the first part that sticks out in his tape to you? And what's the thing that you want to start out this conversation with? Well, it's in the retraining of the way, like, I can just articulate like how, how I came to

understand a little bit more of what he does. And what I had to do was I was in exactly where you were. I was like, okay, well, I was looking at it through strictly like an offensive and defensive lens. And it was when I switched to a game control lens that things started to change for me and to understand what he actually does. So the difference is, to your point, guy offensively, you can see that. He's generating chances. You can see it in the numbers in shot share. You can see it in the goal differentials, all of that, the chances that they're creating, etc.

Maybe even offensive zone time, you might even be able to attribute to offensive players. On the defensive side, if you want to be a great defender in the NHL or any league, it's no problem. You just don't worry about at the puck at all. You just strictly stay on the defensive side. Well, he does neither of those two things.

So what he does do exceptionally well is control the game. And so how he controls the game is where you start to understand what his genius is. And when you watch him, he controls the middle of the ice. So dot to dot, if you just drew a line all the way down the ice from one board all the way to the other and just had this like column down the middle of the ice, the amount of time he spends in that area is alarming. He spends a ton of time in the middle of the ice. And so he's always two steps away from the action. No matter where the puck is, he's two steps away.

So his spacing is always on point. He's always around the puck. He's near the puck. And he controls the middle. You can't make a pass through the middle without him getting a stick on it or without him impacting it. So he takes away defensively, he takes away the middle of the ice. as good as anybody, but offensively, he is in the middle of the ice when he is attacking you.

So he starts in the middle of the ice. He skates through the middle of the ice. When he breaks out, he's inside the dots. He's just always in the middle of the ice. And so what it allows him to do is control the game from the middle. And he controls your decision making. He controls. So what does he do to a top player? Well, he takes away the middle of the ice. You can't use that as much anymore. He's going to deflect you out of there. He's a big guy with great, good skating ability. He's got a great stick. He's going to deflect you out. So now you got to play outside. All your attack has to come from the outside in, and he's waiting for you on the way in. So he forces you out of the middle of the ice. And then when he's attacking you, he's attacking through the middle of the ice. That is, to me,

the cornerstone of what he does exceptionally well. And what I attributed to is I don't look at it anymore from an offense or defensive perspective. I look at it more from who's controlling the ice. And when he's on the ice, he's controlling the shift. He dictates to you the ice that you're able to use. And when he has the puck, he's able with his skill set and the way he skates and the way he handles the puck, his passing ability, he's able to control the middle. The other thing he does, he doesn't go outside the dots unless there's a reason to go out

there. He's not just going out there sniffing around for pucks. If it's loose, he's going. If you turn your back and you can't see him, he's coming. Other than that, he is in the middle of the ice. And I think that's what really flipped the perspective in which to watch him to start to understand what he actually does and why he does it so well. Yeah, and his ability to just routinely control that, I mean, obviously, it's immensely valuable because what do we talk about all the time, how that is the most valuable part of real estate on the ice, right? Everyone is trying to figure out offensively how to get in there defensively, how to stop opponents from getting there, and he's just always making plays from that area

and it extends, I like the point you made of it's not just, all right, he's got one offensive agenda and then one defensive agenda, they're not necessarily correlated in this case. It's kind of fluid where it really extends all across the ice. He's got that, he maintains that positional discipline and kind of like, I know you talked about this in your book as well recently, the kind of like maintaining that structure for the team. Like he, you can even see it where on the rush sometimes, like he will go and if he's a trailer, he'll come and then he'll stop sometimes like just in front of the net or in the slot and

potentially weighed out an opportunity to then either move forward. word or backwards depending on what's happening. You'll never just see him, you know, sometimes you see top players just take these kind of fly-by routes where they're going, okay, they don't get the puck, they'll maybe loop around the net, they'll get lost, they'll occasionally kind of pop back up, see what happens, and then maybe get out the ice. In his case, everything is so dictated by just like going to these spots on the ice and then stopping there and then accordingly acting depending on what happens after that.

Yeah, he's very measured. And when I, from the outset, when we started talking about him, I said like, he's a spacing and math guy. Like he understands angles. He understands your passing angles. He understands where everyone are on the ice. So he knows what your options are. And he has a great stick and body position to do it. But most importantly, his spacing is to me what's most impressive.

His spacing around the puck. And, you know, it's a really difficult thing. to maintain and he does it exceptionally well. And what I mean by spacing is like if you could envision a guy in the corner, an offensive player in the corner with a puck. And then you have Sasha Barkoff, how close does he have to be to you to be controlling what you do? So, you know, a guy who doesn't skate particularly well who is undersized

would have to be really close because he doesn't really have an ability to control because his feet aren't going to do it. and he doesn't have the stick range and the body frame to be able to control it. Barkoff, because of his length and his skating ability and his use, how quick and how good his stick is, he can make you think you have more space than you actually have. And he baits you into basically exposing the puck or making passes, trying to pass through him when you probably shouldn't.

So he creates a sense of safety, because it's not like he's running people over. He's not doing that. These are past interceptions. These are deflections. These are these are highly skilled defensive plays that lead to turnovers. And he's able to disrupt you through the art of spacing. And his spacing is a little different than most.

And that's what I think is it makes him so good in that area. And then if you look the flip side when he's on the offensive side, you don't expect a guy with those hands to be in that frame with the reputation of a guy who's so good defensively. So he kind of like, you don't expect him to step by you or put the puck into close to his feet and out the other side or attack your triangle or all of a sudden step by you or shoot it through you or be able to make a hook pass around the back of your skates to somebody who's wide open on the other side. Like he has exceptional skill close to his feet, which is counterintuitive to what you would expect from a guy that big. So he's a master of that spacing. And I think that's what really separates him from a lot of players.

And the players who are up in that echelon, which, I mean, if it's not Barkoff like another guy who stands out on the takeaway realm, but he does it differently would be a Matthew. who is also very artistic in his ability to win pucks back, the way he wins pucks back, different than Barkoff, but same in that you just don't expect he's a master of that spacing and when you're vulnerable and he can get those takeaways.

And I think that Barkoff does a little differently, but has similar results in that way of how he takes the puck and why he takes it because he's a master of the, angles and spacing. Well, it's a perfect marriage between his individual skill set and how the team's trying to play and what they're trying to accomplish. And he enables that. And the reason why I say that is the hallmark of what they did last postseason that guided

that that spirited run to the Stanley Cup final. And then what they've done this year is that aggressive for check of theirs. And what they essentially try to do is I think no team in the league pinches more aggressively and contests loose pucks than they do. and they close off the wall at every opportunity. And so what does that then force the other team to do? Move the puck up in the middle of the ice and try to make plays there. And that kind of comes right into his waiting hands

because he's like almost like a ball hawking safety in football or something. Like his range is just outrageous. And so you're forced to essentially make a play around him and he's just going to eat that up. And I think his ability to do so in combination with like you'll see on a lot of these clips in transition where and we talked about sometimes maybe he'll take himself out of a play offensively to make the right play defensively down the line in the shift, a defenseman will come down the wall and pinch

and he'll step back and obviously replace him and then he'll actually wind up playing the defense position essentially in the transition against and the rush defense and he'll act as the defenseman. And I think what Florida has done these past couple years under Bill Zito and how Paul Brise is the coach is they become known for being this team that sort of takes castoffs from other teams, right?

Players that maybe or either look like they're kind of a bit long in the tooth or just weren't producing at a level that we thought they could and they bring them in and all of a sudden they become supercharged and they start producing at these phenomenal levels, right? Much better than they previously did. And I think the reason for that is they have this system that is incredibly fun for any player to play in, right? They're always moving forward.

It's very aggressive. and also I think it helps that it almost simplifies their decision-making tree, right? Like for a lot of these defensemen in particular that they bring in, the list of responsibilities or things you have to worry about is probably so much easier to manage than it was at your previous teams where you have to juggle all these different things, offense, defense, try to figure it out. In this case, you bring a player in and you essentially tell them,

all right, if the puck's coming up the wall, I want you to go pinch. If there's a loose buck in the neutral zone, I want you to step up and try to win it, knowing that Barkoff will be there behind you to support you and protect you in case you don't get it. And you're always moving forward. You're always attacking. You're aggressive.

And I think it just gets the most out of all these players. So when we try to figure out kind of what the Panthers are doing, how they're able to consistently find these players off the scrap heap off waivers via trade or kind of low risk signing and essentially turn them into valuable contributors, I think it kind of all winds up circling back to this concept of the way they play. and how Barkov's tendencies allow them to make life easier for everyone else. Yeah, while you were talking, I was like, man, like you're articulating it exactly the way I would like to articulate it.

So the one thing that did jump in. Can you tell we've been talking every week? Yeah. Like, I was like, okay, I, as soon as I saw where you were going, I already had these thoughts in my head and then you bang them all off. So it was excellent. A couple of things that you said was that I think are really important. One is they're skating forwards.

Defensemen are skating forward. So you look at a guy like Foresling or you look at a guy like Montour. Montour in particular was really considered a high risk player who you just didn't know what the hell he was going to do. And they bring him in and they say, listen, play with instinct, skate forwards, go. Don't look back. Go. So there's no hesitation in those players. The worst thing you can do with a defenseman who has those.

like that Montour type inclination is to create hesitations or checks or double checks in before they go. So he's like you can pinch only if these circumstances surrounded. So now the player is trying to like sort through all that with players like a Montour guy, they just need to go.

It's like he's a racehorse. Let him go. And in Florida, the way they get away with that is they have so a guy like Barkoff and others like they also have other guys who I really like who create these like security opportunities for those players to be more aggressive so they can stay in the offensive zone longer but Barkoff is the leader I would say of the I would say of the conscience of the team and in and the defensive responsibility and their transition

responsibilities that he has, you articulated it exactly it. But I think that that's the example is those types of players when you take them out of the, hey, check, double check, don't go unless, hey, make sure, hey, you know, you got to be careful here. Like those are, like, that's a problem for those types of players. You need to let them go. And then they found that not only do those guys do well, but they excel when they come there.

And it's because a guy like Barkoff is so good at controlling the middle of the ice, these guys can attack the walls without any conscience. And it allows him to reload. He plays above everybody. Like I said, he's on to the next play. He's not going to hang around the net. He's not going to stand behind the net and wait for a puck. He's not going to cheat.

but he's not going to stay with a defenseman. The puck comes up. It looks like it's a loose puck 50-50. If that's the case, he's not going to jump on the offensive side. He's always going to air on, like come on that defensive side, play on the next side. And he's found a way to be able to be really productive. And then he's also found a way to make other players better. We're talking about the defense, but this Reinhart is a major problem.

I mean, I thought he was a major problem in the play. playoffs last year. I thought he was outstanding. And now this year he's come out absolutely blistering hot. And I think he's a player that really benefits from being able to make a lot of smart decisions. Because I think that a kid like the Reinhardt kid, he's very good in the corners, like coming out of the corner, he starts at the net, then he'll dip down to the corner, he'll get a puck, and he can playmate kind of coming up the wall. And, you know, having people that can understand where they need to be and how the protections work and he activates the D.

I mean, you need to have protections in place. And it's not to say that Barkoff is so defensive because I don't want to, I don't want to leave that impression. It's that he, he creates the opportunity for others and everyone else on the ice to be able to do these types of things. which leads to high event opportunities.

If a guy like that isn't there, then the D can't be as aggressive. Everyone then just falls back into much more of like an absorb style defending. He allows people to be much more aggressive. So he is, to use your term, he supercharges the way their style of play is. And I think that that could you find a better compliment for a player than that? I don't know.

Like, that's pretty unbelievable. No, I mean, that infrastructure they've created is such a luxury for them. And you look now, they're 14-8-2. They have done all of this with Equipad and Montre missing the first 16 games. Their second center in San Bernard essentially missed the first half of the season. And they've given up the fourth fewest goals against. They've given up the third fewest expected goals against. No team gives up fewer slot shots than they do.

And only Carolina surrenders less offensive zone time to a point. opponents than they do. And so it extends all over the ice. We're watching Barkov here in transition. And similar, what we're talking about controlling that middle, it's that middle, middle lane entry, right, where he constantly is attacking there. And then it's creating all of these plays for guys like Reinhardt to benefit off the flanks. I don't know. I think one final point that I have on Barcov's defense, and then we're going to get into a bit more of the offensive stuff, certainly is, and I'm not sure if you've noticed this as well, but he, plays with a stick, which almost like looks like he's like a pole walter.

And yet his control of it is just outrageous to me where it may as well just be an extension of his hand. And the reason why I say that is beyond just what he's able to do when controlling the puck and batting it down and all of these high skill level plays is he's always kind of poking and prodding and letting the opposition know that he's there in terms of what his range is, right? And he's always got a stick on you. yet he never takes any penalties

or at least he never gets called for them right he almost he's always pushing the line but never gets caught with his hand in the cookie cookie jar and there's two reasons why I note the relevance of that one is that's really hard to do in today's game where they've changed the officiating and anything that looks like it's remotely

a slash near the hands is going to get called no matter what and yet he never gets called for it and two the Panthers one of the detriments of the way they play aggressively is they take a lot of penalties, right? Because they're constantly pushing the envelope. They're trying to attack. And last year they led the league in penalties.

This year, I think they're fourth most. And he never takes any himself. And obviously he's such a valuable penalty killer for them. But the fact that he doesn't add to that or exacerbated and make it worse is such a luxury for them, that he's just able to chew up all these minutes and defend the way he does while still knowing exactly what he can get away with. I find it remarkable. And it's a very, like, small thing. but in the grand scheme of things, it adds up because he's able to get a lot of these steals and a lot of these disruptions and a lot of these deflections by doing so.

It's by kind of the volume of stick checks that he throws out there. And yet it never results in penalties. Yeah, the way I term it is I think he's surgical in his approach with his stick. To your point, I think it is an extension of his hand. He does a lot of one-handed takeaways, too, where he's like stripping you with these like little hook steals. and such. What I think, one of the reasons why I think he does exceptionally well

as it relates to not taking a lot of penalties is because his stick blade is at or near the puck. Like it's one of those situations where it's around the puck. The other thing he does, I think that's really interesting. And we tend to only talk about this, or at least I have with defensemen, is he offers a lot of like,

false information to the puck carrier. So like he'll probe with his stick on one side or he'll make it look like he's doing one thing only to get you to react in a predictable way to him to then be able to get the disruption or the stick check. So I think that he he's definitely as it relates to his stick, he's playing chess. He is at a whole other level of thinking and the way in which he uses his stick. defensively and the way in which I think he dictates the plays in which he wants you to make and then takes advantage of you for making those plays which is like he's he's a step ahead of you

and he uses his stick not he doesn't just have stick on puck like when we think of defending we say oh stick on puck that it's way like there's a lot more layers to what he's doing than just that. It's it's the, though sometimes he'll come out of it, he'll flip his stick. Then he'll come underneath on the back side of the puck. Then he'll come through the stick, the, the stick blade. And then he's like hooking the puck from, from beneath, like underneath the, where the elbow is of the stick blade. He's coming in from that side and hooking through the puck. And, and then that's, that's only the way he personally steals it. That's not even. his pass interception stuff where he makes it look like, you know,

he's going to defend this side to get you to make a play on the other side. Next thing, you know, bang, his stick is already over, and it looks like you passed him the puck. It's really, he really has it down to an art form. And I think he's the best way for me to describe it is I think he's extremely surgical with it. I guess there's a rhyme and a reason and there's a technique to it. And that's why studying him is, it's a privilege to be able to see a guy. at that level of ability is quite something.

Yeah, I mean, he's almost like a boxer just throwing a million jabs with it, right? He's like, he's just trying to keep that range, just trying to feel it out, giving you a bunch of things to worry about, and then he's going to go in for the kill shot and take the puck away or knock you off of it, right? Like, even sometimes you might, there was a lot of plays here in putting together this compilation of clips

where I didn't want to include it just because I wanted, I mean, there's such a volume of stuff that we could talk about in reference. but there's plays where the other team might get a shot off and it looks like nothing happened but then you go back and watch it and his stick either got a piece of the puck or got a piece of the other teams, the shooter's stick or was in the way

to just totally contest it and disrupt what he wanted to accomplish in the first place, right? It's a very disruptive defensive force and so his ability to do that, even in times where you are able to get a shot off on net, it's just not nearly as dangerous or as as sort of decisive as you might have otherwise been able to do against a different defender. Well, the other thing that I think he's extremely good at is he's very good at doubles.

If there's a offensive player who is engaged with one of his defensive teammates, he's extremely good at being able to know when to double. and he gets a lot of his takeaways when the puck carrier is distracted by the defending of his teammate and he thinks he's in a one-on-one and then all of a sudden Barkoff arrives on the blind side and he just takes the puck ever so easily

and off he goes. Doubling in the NHL I think is a critically important defensive skill and those who defend exceptionally well, particularly when you talk about low defending in the offensive zone. So your defenseman and your low forwards,

understanding how to double is, and the timing that goes with that is critically important. He is a master of the double. He catches guys, and this is the, I think, really cool part about him is there's times when physically the opponent is in an extremely vulnerable position to get hit. And Barkoff's not exactly a small guy.

He's a really, really big guy. And there's times where you would think that he would take more advantage of people physically. And he just does it. He's got such a great respect for the game, I think. And he just knows it's about winning the puck. And it's not to say he doesn't use his body because he certainly does. I find he uses his body more offensively that he does defensively in terms of his use of his actual frame and physically imposing himself. But that double and the way.

which he just swoops in, he catches you when you're not looking. It's a quick little stick lift. He's gone and he's already up the ice. That is an impressive aspect also in an important skill for anyone who wants to be good defensively. You've got to know how to double. Yeah. Oh, that's a great point.

He certainly uses his frame more offensively, particularly in puck protection. And we talk about that more in a second. But yeah, I mean, everything in his game is based on functionality, right? And so hearing you talk about how he'll never just take a shot at someone just for the sake of doing so, like, if he has a chance to win the puck, that's, that's all he cares about. And there's such a, and this is a great segue way into his offensive game because there's just such a, like a gracefulness to everything he does, right? Like the motion, the movement, everything is just so fluid and smooth. It's remarkable to watch. And we've watched a lot of here of his middle lane entries as I referenced and kind of how he attacks and transition.

What sticks out to you in his offensive game? because I think certainly it can frustrate people at times where, I mean, his unselfishness can maybe go a bit too far on occasion where he's, he's such a talented player and such a good shooter that he probably could be more aggressive if he wanted to, but he's such a playmaker at heart and he's always looking for the optimal play as opposed to one that might benefit himself the most. And so I think sometimes he can get himself in those situations where people are yelling, shoot, and they're getting frustrated, and he's just going to play his game and look for the best pass for a teammate. But what kind of when you watch him play offensively with the puck and what he does, what really sticks out to you the most? First, you don't realize how big he is until he has the puck because he doesn't do that defensively. You don't have to see how big he is to see how to enjoy the way which he defends.

It's when he has the puck, the thing that really impresses me is his use of his body. And he tends to put guys on it on their back, on his back, sorry. very easily. And he's really big and he doesn't get stick checked. He's got a, you know, he can handle the puck in all areas of his body. He also, I think he's underrated in how agile he is. He moves really well. And I think to your point, one of the things that does hold them back, it's, it's always

the best part's the worst part. So the best part is he gets great body position. He puts himself in spots where people have to rotate off their check to defend the space because he's already beat someone. And so now you run the risk if you don't rotate that he's just going to take a puck to the net. So now he's looking to pass a lot. And he does pass up some great shooting situations. And it's not a guy who doesn't have a good shot. He shoots it very well.

So you would like to see him, would like to see him shoot it. my thing for him is I think that one of the things that holds him back is I don't find him to be particularly deceptive. He declares his intentions offensively very clearly. You know when he's going to pass and you know when he's going to shoot. And oftentimes, especially when he's engaged in a one-on-one, if he's engaged in that one-on-one, you can see his mind switch to pass. I'm going one on one. I'm going to see if I can do something here.

Okay, nothing's here. And you see his mind switch and then now he becomes a passer. And so I do think that that is somewhat precluding in point production because you do see guys who are exceptional in consistent point production. Those guys tend to have some level of deception in their game. He doesn't really have that. He's very methodical and he's very like, um, Yeah, he's very deliberate, I think, in a lot of his approach. And when he's going to shoot, he shoots.

And when he's going to pass, he's going to pass. But he rarely looks like he's going to pass. And all of a sudden he's going to, all of a sudden he shoots or the opposite. So I think that if you were to try to take his offensive game to another level, to me, that's an area that I think is his greatest area of opportunity. But again, it's hard because the best part is the worst. part. So you're in his strength. His strength is he gets into areas of the ice because of his body is skating and the way in which he handles a puck and he puts himself in some really good areas

of the ice that force defenders to have to rotate or leave their check. And so it is alluring for him to not just try to find the new now open player. The other thing that really stands out is between the blue lines, so coming out of his own zone on a rush through the middle of the ice, his skating is outstanding, is in the way in which he crosses his feet. He's got a little like, I hate to say this because it's not really all that true, but it gives you a little bit of a visual. Like the Maro Lemieux, where it was like, it doesn't look like he's moving, but then he's like flying by people, right?

And Barkoff, it's not to the Lemieux level. Of course, nobody's like that. But there is an element of that where you're like, wow, like I didn't think he was going that fast. And through the neutral zone, he is very good at being able to attack through the middle of the ice. He plays two-on-ones exceptionally well in the isolated two-on-one. So it's like a it's a two-on-two on the rush. And he isolates a defender and he can make all the passes. He can pass under a stick.

He can go behind their heels. He can softly place it. He has all those tools. the thing that you'd like to see him do a little more is maybe find more space for his own shot. Yeah, there's a lot to unpack there. He's certainly like he's got the skill set of a dual threat guy. Oh, he does. Oh, he does.

He unfortunately mostly uses them one at a time and very deliberately, as you said, as opposed to actually like where we talked about Kuturov, right, where disguising his intentions in the same motion, he can equally shoot him. pass for Barkov he probably can physically in terms of a talent level but he doesn't really actually do that in practice it's much more defined in terms of what he's trying to accomplish but you're right that's kind of that's what he is as a player and for everything we talked about how his game is so regimented defensively and off the puck and why it works for him it almost that kind of applies and trickles into his offensive game a little bit at times and that can be a bit frustrating but you have

to take the good with the bat in that regard the movement it's it's that agility that you referenced through the neutral zone where he's able to sort of weave around defenders and make plays around them and make them look slow by comparison, even though they might actually be faster than him is one thing. What I wanted to focus on here with a defensive game, though, is we think of the Panthers as this rush team. And that year, a couple years ago, where they scored all the crazy amount of goal totals, right, and they won the president's trophy, they were such a predominant rush team.

And then they bummed into Tampa Bay in the playoffs, and they got humbled by them, and they got swept in that series. And then they traded for Matthew Kachuk, they changed coaches, they tried to make a concerted effort to not change what they were, but sort of diversify their approach, I guess, offensively, where they didn't want to be so one-dimensional. And that's where I think for all the Barkov does off the rush and that we've talked about in that regard,

this line's ability with him, Reinhardt and Rodriguez, and then even the second line with Kachuk's work behind the goal line, to take the initial rush chance, and if it doesn't work out, then stack it together, into a 40, 50 second offensive zone shift where you're cycling the puck, you're working it behind the net, you've got giving goes and three man weaves and you're running actual plays and keeping the other team pinned and on the mat, I think that's been a big change for Florida and why they've gotten so good defensively, right? Because all of a sudden now,

you're not just a one and done team and you're not having to go back and defend against the rush. you have your own rush chance, but then you're not susceptible to the counter because you just keep the puck in the offensive zone. And part of that is the defense's been pinching as we talked about and all of that stuff. But when I see a team like New Jersey play this year, for example, that's what I keep coming back to you.

Like that's sort of evolution and progression as a team. I think they're still working on. And that's something Florida, it kind of organically had to take time for them and they had to take their lumps along the way. But I think that's a big kind of part of this conversation for me in terms of how they've become the team that they are now on the team they were our last postseason.

Yeah, I think your New Jersey reference, I was thinking about them because they still haven't really, like they were, they were what you were describing of Florida last year, predominant rush team, really strong off the rush. And what we know is, is that you cannot win on the playoffs

if you aren't able to control plays in the offensive zone. And the other problem with rush, predominant rush teams is when the playoffs roll around, it's very difficult to get high volume, odd man rushes. So all of a sudden, you're not getting breakaways at the same frequency that you were. You're certainly not getting two on ones and those types of things.

So what happens is rush teams tend to take more chances at the offensive blue line. And then they become, you end up feeding the other team's transition game. So your rush game ends up being the negative against you. So Florida, I think is a generation ahead of, where Jersey is. And Jersey this year is not really a very good five-on-five team

or certainly hasn't been to this point, which has been a problematic. And then when Hughes went out, that was even more of a problem. Well, now, like, they're a generation behind because they got to figure out a way in which to convert rush chances into good decisions at the blue line. And I think that's what Florida does exceptionally well now.

They have a game where they can come at you off the rush. And if you give them opportunities in odd man situations or you allow them to come with speed and change sides in the neutral zone, they will hurt you. But they also make good decision. And that's what I thought they were really good last year in the playoffs where they became, they went from rush team to elite four check team. And I think those two things are connected. So the things in which you need to be a good rush team is the way in which it's always the thing before. So when we think about the rush, we think of neutral zone and entries. Well, the real origin of that was how you got out of your own zone.

So how you got out is what controls your entries. And so you watch a team like Florida, that's the transition. It's you go from very good rush team. You still keep a lot of those characteristics. So you have guys who can hurt you there. Like the Verhaggy kid is a kid that jumps out like that. You cannot give this kid a single second of space off of a rush. He will hurt you.

He's that type of player. But they also are really good in off the forecheck. And then when they're in through the neutral zone, and that's where last year's playoff run, I think really highlighted it for me. They weren't like a typical rush team where they would start making these poor decisions at the blue line to try to continue to feed their rush game, even though it wasn't there, they would be like, okay, it's two on three. I'm not going to force this.

We'll lay it in behind and we're going to run your defenseman. And we're going to go get off the forecheck. And then next thing, you know, it's a 40, 50 second shift. You're just trying to get it out. Now the other thing, too, is, and this is the next, the three stages, I think, of elite rush or elite offense is number one, you need, you start with your rush game. That's great. Number two, you turn your rush game into a complementary,

forecheck game. Then you also then use your forecheck game to create offensive zone time. Then the last piece is a re-entry game where you were in the offensive zone for a long period of time. You generated some chances. The other team is just trying to get it out. They chip it out into the neutral zone or they try to skate it out and you are skating forward. You get a contact but the puck is out in the neutral zone. And now you turn it on re-entry and you come in because in the playoffs, I think the real rush game is the reentry game. And that's where I think actually Florida, that might be part of their next step in there, is that get a really strong reentry game.

So you see what I mean about generations of building your offense. I think it starts with the rush game and that's kind of where Jersey stuck. Jersey now has to move to a four check, create that offensive zone, which is where I think Florida is. And then the last piece is that reentry game, which is the real rush game in the playoffs. And I think this Florida theme is a problem. I love Barkoff.

I'm looking forward to seeing Reinhardt continue to develop. And the interesting part about Reinhardt is, I'm curious to see if Reinhardt's offensive, like, scoring production doesn't affect like Barkoff. because Barkoff, is Barkoff going to be more inclined to want to move the puck to a guy who's carrying the hot hand? Like, is that going to become, is Reinhardt's development, not development, because he's been a great player for a long time. That's a poor way of saying it. I'm just saying, like, he's off to this blistering start offensively scoring. Does that impact negatively

at some point, Barkoff, because Barkoff continues to not see himself as an option, where really the best development for that line for all of them is for Barkoff to take more shots. That's well said. And I mean, I just can't wait to watch more of this guy in general. Daryl, we're out of time for today. These hours with you every week always fly right on by.

Hopefully the listeners enjoy it nearly as much as we do if you do dig these, but you're only listening to us and not watching along on YouTube. I think you're missing out on the full experience. So I highly recommend hopping on the channel and checking out the stuff we're talking about for yourself. So the next time you watch Barakov and the Panthers Play, you'll be able to pick it up more easily. And while you're there,

please consider subscribing, liking, commenting, all that good stuff that helps us out a lot and helps us keep putting these shows out. My one final recommendation before we get out of here is the usual. I also recommend that you go join the PDO cast Discord community. It's growing. It's awesome. And we're going to keep building it out as more of you get it on the fun.

The link is in the show notes, so just pop in there. And even if you don't want to get involved initially in the conversation, you can lurk, see what people are saying, see what they're talking about. And trust me, the banter is so good that you're eventually going to want to jump in and mix it up with everyone as well. Okay, that's it for today's show. Thank you to Daryl for coming on to share his insights. Thank you to the listeners for coming along for the ride with us.

And we'll be back soon with plenty more of the Hockey Pee-Ocast streaming on the Sports Night Radio Network.