Panthers’ Aleksander Barkov Named Team Finland Captain

Aleksander Barkov is no stranger when it comes to leading a group of elite hockey players. 

For the past seven seasons he’s served as captain of the Florida Panthers, where he led the team to its first Stanley Cup in franchise history last June. 

Come this February he’ll continue his leadership duties, only this time it’s for his home nation. 

On Thursday, Barkov was named Team Finland’s captain for the 4 Nations Face-Off, which is set to take place from Feb. 12-20 in Montreal and Boston.

It shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that Barkov was named Finland’s captain. Last June he became the first Finnish born captain in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup. He’s also the only active Finnish captain in the NHL.

Barkov, 29, has represented Finland on multiple occasions, including the 2016 World Cup of Hockey and the 2014 Sochi Olympics, where he won the Bronze medal as a teenager. 

The Panthers have a league-high four players on the Finnish 4 Nations roster: Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen, Nikko Mikkola and Barkov. They have eight players — also an NHL-high — that will be headed to the tournament: Gustav Forsling (SWE), Matthew Tkachuk (USA), Sam Bennett (CAN) and Sam Reinhart (CAN).