Even though he’s a strong candidate for captaincy, forward Aleksander Barkov shouldn’t be chosen as the next captain for the Florida Panthers.
On October 9, 2016, the Florida Panthers named Derek MacKenzie as their newest captain. He’d become the ninth Panther in franchise history to receive this honor. However, after a few years of leading the Cats, it has come into consideration to remove the ‘C’ from D-Mac’s jersey.
There are few reasons to explain why MacKenzie should keep the captaincy, but at this current moment, it’s ultimately time to choose a new leader. Some of the new candidates include guys like Vincent Trocheck, Aaron Ekblad, and others. Although, in the final stages of the captain selection process, the Panthers should immediately rule out forward Aleksander Barkov.
To start, Barkov shouldn’t be considered to be the tenth Panthers captain because of a single word, pressure. The recent trend from other teams across the NHL has been to give the ‘C’ to their young, superstar players.
This can be exemplified throughout the league with a team like the Edmonton Oilers, who named Connor McDavid their captain at 19 years of age (266 days), the youngest captain in NHL history.
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Furthermore, while Barkov probably wouldn’t crack under the pressure of fulfilling the captaincy role, why even bother putting additional weight on his shoulders? There are other players on the roster who are just as capable, or if not, more than capable of taking on that responsibility.
The Panthers could reduce Barkov’s weight by naming another player the captain or by simply slapping the ‘A’ on his jersey (something he’s shown to be content with). With all the recognition that he already has, more weight on his shoulders could only hurt the young center and wouldn’t do any good for him or the team in the long run.
Finally, which remains the most recognizable point to show that Barkov shouldn’t be the next captain has to be his voice.
Since entering the league, everyone knows that Aleksander Barkov isn’t the most vocal of players. His trademark in personality has always been his shy and laid-back character. He’s not one to give the big hype speech before a game or one to yell at an official about a call that may or may not have gone the Panthers way.
Ideally, the role of a captain comes with the responsibility to use your voice to lead your team in the quest to get the squad rolling and to win games. This role may be suited to someone more like Trocheck, who happens to be one of the more vocal players on the team.
Unlike Barkov, Trocheck plays and lives with emotion as an advantage and is someone you can depend upon to lead you in all aspects of a game. Without that type of voice to command your team, Barkov remains below a few guys on the list for captaincy.
He wouldn’t be a bad candidate for captain – don’t get me wrong – but at the same time, it’d probably be best to hand someone else the ‘C’ leaving Barkov to serve as an assistant, something he’s proven capable of during the previous hockey season.
While some may say he’s a good leader, the next captain for the Florida Panthers shouldn’t be their Finnish superstar and that isn’t a knock against Barkov.