C Aleksander Barkov - Tampere Tappara, FEL (2013 Draft)
- Thread starter thomast
- Start date
- Status
Granlund comparable to Hudler? I think Granlund is more comparable to Datsyuk. Granlund(179cm/5'11) is about same size as Datsyuk(180cm/5'11), has great skills like Datsyuk... sees the ice ingeniously, both twoway. Granlund might be powerplay specialist at his first seasons in the NHL, but his only 19 and will be better. I think he'll score something like 40-50 points at his rookie season. And Datsyuk is not speeder eighter.
And Barkov, his as big as Malkin and very much like Malkin, but plays two way, and works like finn.
Barkov hasnt got Malkin´s speed and isnt as gifted offensively IMO. People also tend to forget that Malkin is a very good two way player, but I agree that Barkov could be better defensively. I would cream my pants if Barkov could be Finland´s version of Malkin.
Haite
x
- Jun 27, 2011
- 3,961
- 2
IceHockeyDude
Registered User
Compare Barkov and Malkin when Malkin was 16 years old. At season 03-04 Malkin played 34 games and managed to put up 12 points. Russian league was not even close to be as high leveled as it is now. Back then Malkin was 17. Barkov is one year younger than that now and is top3 foward for Tappara
The development curves are always pretty complicated stuff. Barkov is much more ready physically than Malkin was, but I just cannot see him being as dominant offensive player as Malkin was. Malkin also developed like crazy in his draft year, challenging Ovechkin for #1 spot. We will see how Barkov develops, but as for now I see him as a better version of Mikko Koivu.
UvBnDatsyuked
Registered User
- Apr 30, 2005
- 2,186
- 1
Very very true
Age means something only to the 90% of the kids who fit in the middle of the curve. The other 10% are either far behind or far ahead. Barkov is doing some fantastic things but the kid also looks like he is 20 years old. No one will know how he turns out but the kid is 16 and obviously he is at the far end of the spectrum as far as physical development. Some kids continue to rise and dominate and some kids get caught up to.
IceHockeyDude
Registered User
I have very hard time to believe that Malkin was more dominant and more skilled at the age of 16 than Barkov is now. Anyway we are discussing about a generational tallent for finnish ice-hockey and if some player's comparability(talent) is close to an international super-star like Malkin's, then we are talking about a very good player.
You never know what kind of improvement there will be with Barkov's game and as was being said earlier, Malkin developed alot during his draft year. Barkov is in the SM-liiga one year before Russia's frontman Malkin stepped to the big league.
I disagree. Finnish league, Sm-liiga is pretty good this year. It used be weaker at 03-04 or so, but at the moment i'd say there are several teams that could be top teams even in the days KHL! Kalpa, Jokerit, HIFK, Kärpät, Jyp and Lukko all have a very strong lineups.
I'd say in Europe, there are maybe five teams, that can be said to have clearly better lineups, than those(SKA, Magnitogorsk, Ufa, Omsk, Kazan).
Well, that's a bit too much. Lots of elitserien teams are better also.
SM-liiga is a good league nonetheless.
helicecopter
Registered User
mmh... nope, not really. You don't think that the way KHL is bying players is not going to affect the level of play? Now the best players in europe mostly go to the KHL and alot of NHL calibre players play there. i.e, better players, tougher league.
helicecopter
Registered User
i was following the RSL back then, and the level was not significantly lower than now.
Now you have more teams, so there is a bigger number of good players there but also more spots to cover.
and 99% of the good players that joined KHL are not on a different level from former regular RSLers.. not enough to make the league level of play so much better than before.
The "not even close" comments are out of place imo.
Well, i think that too. Sm-liiga was stronger, than RSL still in 00-01... 01-03 they were quite equal, 03-04 RSL went ahead of Sm-liiga, when Sm-liiga got weaker and RSL stronger, but compairing 03-04 RSL and todays Sm-liiga is quite good. Differences are in playing style, not in the quality(or maybe Sm-liiga is even better).
In 03-04 there were no such a superteams in RSL as there has been in KHL(something like 9 at best). Best RSL 03-04 teams would be above average teams in todays KHL.
But thinking the differences in style, the two players, Malkin and Barkov have been playing in conditions where they used to play since kid, so the only difference, wich should be noticed is, how high scoring league RSL 03-04 was, compared to 11-12 Sm-liiga. I think RSL 03-04 was lower scoring league, than Sm-liiga 11-12.
Thats true, but I took the top five clearly above to everything else. Elitserien teams are not that far better.
Last edited:
It will be interesting to see if Barkov can become Tappara's #1 center at some point next year. In his draft year, Granlund started as a 3rd line winger and eventually played in the first line scoring nearly point per game. If he can improve his skating under Rautakorpi (which is likely) I wouldn't be surprised if he did, and even if he competed for Tappara's scoring title while playing solid two way game.
It was confirmed today that Jukka Rautakorpi will be coaching Tappara the next three years. He worked last year as the Director of Coaching for Finnish Hockey Federation and has followed NHL & KHL very closely. He knows what qualities you need to get to the top and knowing Barkov's potential, this makes me very excited for his future.
He has looked weak and slow in the last few games, wouldn't be surprised if Dufva sends him back to the juniors for a bit.
It probably wouldn't hurt to skip a game and play some jr. games for a change, this was expected that he will run out of gas at some point during the season. He is only 16 after all
It probably wouldn't hurt to skip a game and play some jr. games for a change, this was expected that he will run out of gas at some point during the season. He is only 16 after all
Problem is that Tappara is very weak at the center position ( JM Järvinen has been a bust) so they probably can't afford to send him to juniors.
Tappara has to be in a lousy state if they can't afford to scratch a barely 16-year-old. I don't think they expected Barkov to be a key player for them, so they should have a plan. I don't think it's good for either side if they make him play totally gassed.
Though I'm not sure what the situation is right now because I haven't seen his games in a few weeks.
Plan was to have Joey Tenute as the second line center but he turned out to be a winger and on the top that pretty bad one as well. Yeah terrible scouting I know.
Barkov stated that his favourite player is Malkin and he want to be player like him. He also stated that he would like to play in NHL team which has alot of history and good hockey culture( i think he means habs but didn't say it. )
and Barkov scores!!!
and Barkov scores!!!
Last edited:
Jussi
Registered User
- Status
