With all scenarios on the table regarding what a potential return of the 2019-20 NHL season would look like, Florida Panthers star Alexsander Barkov believes his team should get a shot to compete for the Stanley Cup.
"I don't think it would be right if we’re left out," Barkov told The Athletic's George Richards. "We are close to a playoff spot and have 13 games left. We just started playing as well as we did before the All-Star break, the bye week. We were feeling pretty good, playing with confidence."
After sitting in a playoff position for most of the season, the Panthers currently find themselves three points behind both the second wild-card spot and third place in the Atlantic Division. However, they also had games in hand on some of the teams just ahead of them when the campaign was suspended.
When asked what he hopes would happen if the season does resume, Barkov indicated he favors one of the more creative possibilities.
"The best-case scenario is probably the (play-in) tournament," he said. "Thank God I don’t have to decide anything. I'm just here, waiting to see what the league does with the season and trying to stay healthy.”
While hockey is on his mind, Barkov also remains aware of the bigger picture and understands the severity of the situation.
"Obviously, this thing sucks and health is first. I think the league made the right decision, the world has been making the right decisions," Barkov said of the measures being taken due to the coronavirus pandemic. "We need to keep people inside, stay away from each other right now. That’s a good thing for everyone. We’ll take a little break and we can be back sooner than later.”
Before the NHL season was suspended, the 24-year-old Barkov had recorded 20 goals and 42 assists in 66 games.
Barabanov's agent, Dan Milstein, will begin interviewing interested NHL teams Tuesday, Dreger adds.
The 25-year-old winger has played seven seasons with the KHL's SKA Saint Petersburg and racked up 11 goals and 20 points through 43 games in 2019-20. He captured a pair of Gagarin Cups in 2015 and '17.
Internationally, Barabanov won a bronze medal for Russia at the 2014 world juniors and earned gold at the 2018 Games in PyeongChang.
Few things can accelerate an NHL team's plans to contend like winning the draft lottery and securing the No. 1 overall pick.
The opportunity to transform a team's core can be had by a painful year of tanking or some lottery luck, but no matter how it comes about, it's imperative the club in the driver's seat uses it on the right player. Over the past decade, multiple teams have altered their trajectories by nabbing a generational talent at the top of the draft board, while others have made mistakes with their golden ticket.
With nothing on the pro sports landscape but time to reflect, let's look back and rank all of the previous decade's No. 1 picks.
N/R - Jack Hughes (2019)
GP
G
A
P/GP
61
7
14
0.34
It would be unfair to label the most recent No. 1 pick as the decade's worst in a season he may not even get to finish, so we're not ranking him. Still, there's no denying Hughes' debut campaign fell way short of expectations before the 2019-20 season went on pause. He showed flashes of the tantalizing skill that sprung him to the top of every draft board prior to his first year but he clearly had a difficult time adjusting to life at the NHL level. No problem, though - he has plenty of time to develop and prove he can be the New Jersey Devils' cornerstone.
9. Nail Yakupov (2012)
Bruce Bennett / Getty Images Sport / Getty
GP
G
A
P/GP
350
62
74
0.38
Yakupov was the Edmonton Oilers' third No. 1 overall pick in a row, and easily the most disappointing. The "Fail for Nail" hype while the dynamic winger lit up the OHL was real, and Edmonton believed drafting a forward for the third consecutive year was the right strategy. It's easy to blast the Oilers for their whiff now with the benefit of hindsight, but any other choice would have been highly criticized at the time. With that in mind, any of Morgan Rielly, Hampus Lindholm, Mathew Dumba, or Jacob Trouba - all first-rounders that year - would have been a better fit in the long run.
8. Nico Hischier (2017)
GP
G
A
P/GP
209
59
84
0.64
Hischier has proven to be a solid player through his first three seasons with lots of room still to grow. He and Nolan Patrick were the two presumptive best options at No. 1 in 2017, but looking back at the three picks that followed those two (Miro Heiskanen, Cale Makar, and Elias Pettersson), it appears the scouts had their rankings a tad out of order.
7. Aaron Ekblad (2014)
GP
G
A
P/GP
458
71
141
0.46
Ekblad's stock heading into the 2014 draft was sky-high, as he was the first defenseman to ever be granted exceptional-player status in the OHL in 2011, and he went on to author a tremendous career with the Barrie Colts. The combination of size, skating, and offensive ability he showed in junior carried over into the NHL, but he hasn't quite become the expected generational rock on the Florida Panthers' blue line. He probably wouldn't retain his top spot in a re-draft due to the success of fellow 2014 first-rounders Leon Draisaitl and David Pastrnak.
6. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (2011)
GP
G
A
P/GP
604
169
274
0.73
It's rather incredible Nugent-Hopkins is in his ninth NHL season at just 26 years old. The Oilers counted on him to contribute immediately, and while he may not be the star he was in junior, he appears to have found a more suitable role as a reliable secondary scorer since the arrival of Draisaitl and another to-be-named Edmonton star. There was some elite talent throughout the 2011 draft, namely Jonathan Huberdeau, Mark Scheifele, Nikita Kucherov, and Johnny Gaudreau, but Nugent-Hopkins was the safe pick then and remains a strong choice today.
5. Rasmus Dahlin (2018)
Kevin Hoffman / Getty Images Sport / Getty
GP
G
A
P/GP
141
13
71
0.69
Dahlin's produced a small sample size to date but has definitely lived up to his No. 1 overall status through his first two seasons. He consistently shows the offensive flashes that had many compare him to Erik Karlsson, and his career points-per-game rate ranks second among all teenage defensemen in the NHL's modern era, trailing only Hall of Famer and former head coach Phil Housley. Stepping into the NHL as an 18-year-old and immediately contributing the way he has is no easy feat, and he projects to be a foundational piece with the Buffalo Sabres, alongside captain Jack Eichel, for many years to come.
4. Taylor Hall (2010)
GP
G
A
P/GP
627
218
345
0.89
Hall beat out Tyler Seguin in the infamous "Taylor or Tyler" draft to start the decade and has gone on to establish himself as a bonafide NHL star. He never led the Oilers where many thought he would, but he proved how good he can be when healthy in his 2018 Hart Trophy campaign with the Devils. Hall trails only Seguin in points among all players in his draft class but has played almost a full season less than Seguin due to injuries. The 28-year-old Hall's been as advertised throughout his entire career and should still have many good years ahead of him, but he doesn't quite compare to the top three on this list.
3. Nathan MacKinnon (2013)
Michael Martin / National Hockey League / Getty
GP
G
A
P/GP
525
190
305
0.94
On the strength of three consecutive 90-point seasons, MacKinnon has established himself as one of the NHL's most dominant players. That said, "Nate the Great" didn't begin his career anywhere near the level he's at today, which his why he earns the No. 3 spot in our rankings. MacKinnon won the Calder Trophy but struggled in the following three seasons, topping out at 53 points for a Colorado Avalanche squad that appeared to lack direction. Now at 24, he's a perennial MVP threat leading a club that looks poised to compete for Stanley Cups for much of the next decade.
2. Auston Matthews (2016)
GP
G
A
P/GP
282
158
127
1.01
Since Matthews joined the Toronto Maple Leafs for the 2016-17 season, only Alex Ovechkin has scored more goals. Once drafted, Matthews made an immediate impact and went on to win the Calder Trophy thanks to a 40-goal campaign. This season, he was on track to eclipse 50 tallies for the first time while having already established a new career high in points before the coronavirus-induced break. The 22-year-old is head and shoulders above everyone else in the 2016 draft class at this point and appears to be getting better on both sides of the puck each year.
1. Connor McDavid (2015)
GP
G
A
P/GP
351
162
307
1.34
There's really no debate. McDavid was dubbed as the next generational NHL superstar before he even made the OHL, and it's safe to say he's delivered. His 1.34 career points-per-game rate ranks fifth in NHL history among all players with a minimum 300 games played, and he's already won an MVP and two scoring titles at 23 years old. McDavid is far and away the most electrifying player in the NHL, and there's a whole lot of hardware left to claim in his future.
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In an NHL video conference call Monday, Ottawa Senators forward Brady Tkachuk revealed that his teammates who were diagnosed with COVID-19 are "doing well."
"We're a tight group, so we're always in contact with one another," Tkachuk said, according to The Canadian Press.
Two unnamed Senators players were separately diagnosed with the coronavirus in the days after the NHL shut down operations March 12 amid the worldwide pandemic. Gord Wilson, a member of the club's radio broadcast crew, also tested positive.
"All of us are concerned about (the Ottawa players) and everybody impacted by it," Tkachuk said.
Two players on the Colorado Avalanche have tested positive for COVID-19, the only other known cases to date among NHL players.
Before the NHL's pause, the Senators held a 25-34-12 record, with Tkachuk chipping in 21 goals and 23 assists across 71 games in his sophomore season.
With no live sports to tune into these days, the best us fans can do is rewatch old classics.
Monday night gave us the perfect opportunity to do so, as the NHL livestreamed Game 1 of the 1983 Western Conference Final, when Wayne Gretzky and the Edmonton Oilers trounced the Chicago Blackhawks 8-4 to set the tone for a commanding series sweep. The Great One notched one goal and four assists, while fellow future Hall of Famers Jari Kurri and Mark Messier had four and three points themselves, respectively.
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Members of the NHL community are showing their appreciation for medical professionals battling the coronavirus pandemic on National Doctors' Day in the United States.
Toronto Maple Leafs captain John Tavares expressed concern over the situations in both his current and former NHL homes while acknowledging those who are most at risk.
"It's about people who are on the front lines of this in the hospitals, the nurses, doctors, (and) emergency responders," Detroit Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin said, according to the team. "They're the real heroes in this, so I appreciate everything they're doing for us right now."
The U.S. first observed Doctors' Day in 1933. It was declared a national holiday in 1990.
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The Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers are letting go of a significant number of employees in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation is laying off approximately half of its full-time workforce - or about 150 people - for 60 days beginning April 13, the Flames announced Monday. The affected employees were given two weeks' notice.
The team is also implementing salary reductions of 10% to 25% for the remaining staff, with the rate of the respective reductions increasing with salary levels, meaning executive management will take the highest percentage cuts.
Calgary will initiate an unemployment benefit plan for the laid-off employees, which will provide an Employment Insurance top-up payment to those affected.
Meanwhile, Oilers Entertainment Group is temporarily reducing its staff by 139 employees and trimming compensation for those still working from home, the club announced Monday.
OEG will ensure that all non-executive employees - whether they've been laid off or are still working from home - will continue to receive 75% to 90% of their respective salaries. That mirrors the Flames' salary reductions, but Edmonton's move applies to all staff rather than just those who remain.
The Flames reportedly informed hourly workers earlier this month that they wouldn't be compensated for lost shifts during the shutdown, though the club reversed course and implemented a compensation program for part-timers.
On March 24, the Oilers' senior hockey and business executives decided to temporarily forgo half to all of their respective salaries to help the organization financially.
