Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov has missed much of the past few weeks with an illness, and now we have clarity on why his absence was so long. Florida Hockey Now’s George Richards relays a Finnish report that Barkov was dealing with a bout of pneumonia, causing him to be away from the team.
Thankfully, Barkov is now healthy. He’s returned to skating with the team and is expected to return to the lineup tomorrow against Detroit, says Richards. In the seven games Barkov missed, the Panthers went 2-3-2. The return of their captain can’t come soon enough, as the team currently sits outside a playoff spot after winning the President’s Trophy last year. Richards also notes the team is optimistic that Anton Lundell can return from an injury tomorrow after missing the last two games.
- After scoring just one goal in 26 games this season, offensive struggles are beginning to weigh on Edmonton Oilers winger Jesse Puljujarvi. Puljujärvi told a Finnish news agency today (translated) that “of course, I’d like to be a productive top-line player, but right now, it looks like I can’t do that in NHL. Maybe some other league.” The Finn had a career year last season with 36 points in 65 games and even received some Selke votes, but his play on both sides of the puck has dipped this year. Hopefully, the Oilers can help Puljujärvi figure out a way to regain his confidence.
- Team Canada captain Marie-Philip Poulin has deservedly won the 2022 Northern Star award, given to Canada’s top athlete of the year. Poulin led Canada’s top women’s hockey contingent to both Olympic gold and World Championships gold, scoring a combined 27 points in 14 games. She’s the first hockey player to win the award in seven years.
Liiga is calling your name, J.P. They might even let you be a prominent middle-sixer, too.
Shows you that Oiler media voters will only vote home town guys.
Because there’s no way PJ should have got a vote for the Selkie!
@bruin4ever—I think that’s true of some of them, maybe not all. I didn’t think he should’ve been Q.O.’d, let alone overpaid. He’s had an unusually hard time learning English, which could be partially his fault and partially the fault of a tutor. I agree with you on his two-way game. He seems to still believe he deserves a top-line spot because of his draft position. He basically has one thing going for him—he can be an effective net-front presence because of his size.
“Some” Selke votes is an exaggeration. Puljujarvi had ONE fourth place vote. That’s it. And John Scott and Chris Nilan played in the All-Star Game, an occurrence of equal merit. No one is going to confuse this rummy with Patrice Bergeron or, well, Aleksander Barkov in your lifetimes or mine.
Honestly, there aren’t many players who’ve had so much hype for so little production. The guy’s shown himself capable of third line production … some of the time. If he fancies himself a top-liner, then he can go play for the Vermilion County Bobcats: I bet he could tear up the SPHL.
JP has a million dollar body and a 10 cent head. His view of where he fits has always been skewed. Instead of whining to his home country media all the time he should work on his shot, take more shots and drive the net.
7 years??? you think Hockey would be getting all of them in Canada, though in Reality McJesus is your actual top Athlete every year