Barkov, who was one of six players named to Team Finland in June, said he wasn’t surprised to see three of his Panthers teammates join him on the roster.
“I think management knows what they’re doing,” he said. “They don’t need my opinion on those guys. They’ve obviously done a really good job the last few years here. So I think it was an obvious choice to get those guys to come.”
Barkov, who became the first Finland-born captain to lift the Stanley Cup when the Panthers won it last season, could be the captain for Team Finland for the 4 Nations Face-Off. However, he isn’t ready to look that far down the road.
“It’s hard to talk about something that, what would it mean if (he were captain),” he said. “Just live in the moment right now. Obviously it’s a huge honor. I’ve been on Team Finland before and all the captains there — Mikko Koivu, Jussi Jokinen was my captain at my first (IIHF) World (Hockey) Championship (in 2015), the (2014 Sochi) Olympics, Teemu Selanne. All those guys, obviously, it’s a great achievement, but I don’t think about that that much right now. I only do my job here, and then we’ll think what comes next.”
What also will come next for Barkov is having to play against his Panthers teammates. Linemate Sam Reinhart will play for Team Canada, along with forward Sam Bennett; forward Matthew Tkachuk will play for Team USA; and defenseman Gustav Forsling will play for Team Sweden.
“Obviously we do that in practice, but it’ll be a little different when you actually have to play against them,” Barkov said.
