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Is Barkov overrated?
- Thread starter viper0220
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McDavid and MacKinnon are definitely ahead at center. Drai has such an offensive gap he's probably there too in general, but head to head? Not sure...
Crosby at this point in his career is slightly below. Matthews is bonkers in the regular season. Talent wise, I think he has Barkov beat maybe, but Barkov is ahead defensively. So far, Matthews is a playoff no show.
In short, I would say it's not wholly unreasonable to regard Barkov as top 3. Top 5 is more than fair.
Therefore, I would say he's only overrated if you place him at 1, which most don't.
Crosby at this point in his career is slightly below. Matthews is bonkers in the regular season. Talent wise, I think he has Barkov beat maybe, but Barkov is ahead defensively. So far, Matthews is a playoff no show.
In short, I would say it's not wholly unreasonable to regard Barkov as top 3. Top 5 is more than fair.
Therefore, I would say he's only overrated if you place him at 1, which most don't.
How is Eichel better than Barkov at this point, exactly? He doesn't have the numbers or the defense. Also, Crosby doesn't really have an edge offensively anymore.
CokenoPepsi
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I mean in Toews prime you had people arguing he was the best player in the world even over Crosby...
Barkov does seem to have already passed Toews to be sure
- Feb 10, 2010
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The Canadian media consistently lives up to the narrative. The best way for the narrative to die would be to acknowledge the issue and identify a remedy.
Is this impacting Barkov? I'm not so sure. It seems to me the higher a Russian or European flies, the more illogical the attacks become. Kucherov was rated outside the top 20 players by one prominent Canadian publication before this season started. If Barkov continues to play great hockey, will the attacks ramp up as they did against Kucherov, Malkin, and Ovechkin? Only time will tell.
As a neutral fan, that's an interesting take; scoring stats wise I would agree (Sasha's on pace to pass him in around 2 seasons' time) but I wonder how you quantify the championships into how good Captain Serious was in those runs. Besides being reputed as a matchup #1C who was skilled in all situations, in those runs,
2010: Smythe, leading scorer for Chicago ahead of Pat Kane
2013: (nothing to write home about)
2015: finished just behind Kane with 21 points in 23 games
He was also in the era where Bergeron had the Selke on lock like he had his check, so it's hard to discredit him at all for his defense not getting recognized when 37 was just on another level.
CokenoPepsi
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I wouldn't say it a huge gap or anything but it does seem clear the scales are tipped towards Barkov now...I mean I guess it possible he has a Toews like decline too which would make things interesting.
Barkov already has more Selkes than Toews.
Cups are always Toews trump card and while they are important they are a team award.
It isn't like Toews was some super hero human in those runs, if Barkov finishes the job the next couple games this run is likely better than any of Toews' wins
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- Jan 13, 2023
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This narrative that Barkov is a top 3 C that has "shut down McDavid head to head" only exists because of Bob bailing his "stellar defensive play" out over and over again this series.
Felidae
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- Sep 30, 2016
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Highly disagree. I dont think Barkov's run is as good as Toews in 2009-10. Nearly 30 points and monster defense in a lower scoring era.
Also consider that Toews selke competition was prime Bergeron and Kopitar, but their selke finishes are really close.
Barkov also competed with them when they were in their 30s.
I will say, I do think Barkov will eventually pass him. He's almost there already, and I just think he'll age better (Like Kopitar and Bergeron) cause he's the
more cerebral player.
SeanMoneyHands
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- Apr 18, 2019
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Raccoon Jesus
Draft em but don't play em
starting to feel like it
hard to tell if people are being intentionally dishonest or if they really just don't know but man
CokenoPepsi
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Toews wasn't a monster defense guy in 2010, the main responsibility fell to guys like Bolland, in fact Toews was actually a - player in those playoffs.
Barkov scoring might not be as high (though same amount of goals so far) but he has actually been the one going against McDavid/Panarin/Kucherov and beating them
- Jan 13, 2023
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confirmed that Barkov is overrated. plainly obvious now that the only reason he was "shutting down" McDavid was Bobrovsky doubling his gsae through the entire first three rounds in Games 1 to 3
Matthews has produced better than Barkov in the playoffs, one of them just plays on better teams.
TruePowerSlave
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Feels like it swings from underrated to overrated regularly.
Now Barkov has been suppedly a deserving Smythe winner which is just ridiculous.
Now Barkov has been suppedly a deserving Smythe winner which is just ridiculous.
- Apr 20, 2016
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Barkov can be deserving of the praise he gets and also struggle to shutdown McDavid. Those aren't mutually exclusive things. It's hard to stop the best player in the world when he's on his game. Barkov can still be a great player despite that.
TheNumber4
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Bissonette called him the “best overall forward” in the League.
Sure it sounds kinda like a smart take until you dig into it, and see that not only is McDavid dominating him in production but also now playing better than him defensively.
If Biz’s statement is the current narrative on Barkov. Then yea, he’s very overrated. In the past though, he was extremely underrated as not much noticed what he was doing for the Panthers down in Florida.
Sure it sounds kinda like a smart take until you dig into it, and see that not only is McDavid dominating him in production but also now playing better than him defensively.
If Biz’s statement is the current narrative on Barkov. Then yea, he’s very overrated. In the past though, he was extremely underrated as not much noticed what he was doing for the Panthers down in Florida.
Zirakzigil
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This conversation can continue in one of the many Oilers/Panthers playoff threads and not in a dragged up thread from 13 months ago.
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