Agreed, by all accounts he's a stud.

No slight against Kotkaniemi, but I wouldn't count on him being even in the same conversation as Barkov. He's going to be a heck of a player, but Barkov is not human

Yet people say he isn’t a top 5 center in the league.....SMH. When you talk about complete 2 way centers he is easily top 5. People put offensive number above everything, but most of those players aren’t nearly as good defensively as Barkov is, hence the words “complete two way” but people ignore that.

I completely agree with this assessment but I hope they dont use him like Barkov. He is played way to much, playing 24 minutes a night for a center is a lot. Trocheks injury didnt help but would like to see the Habs fill out thier roster better than Florida has before he hits his prime and plays 20 min nights

Barkov is sick but I wouldn’t put him top 5 just yet. Maybe next season though. It’s so tough. You can argue a lot of guys there. Crosby, Mcdavid, mackinnon, Malkin, schefele, Matthews, Tavares, etc...

He could be a poor mans barkov. Still better than any centre Habs have had since the golden ages imo. Obviously kotK has a small sample size but he’s shown he can be a very promising player

Truthfully, he has all the attributes that Barkov has except for a few things obviously that will differentiate the two once KK has developed more.

Barkov doesn't have a nasty bone in his body, Rarely gets mad and rarely will take initiative in a scrum. Kotkaniemi is a little more fiery than Barkov has been in his career thus far and has no problem hitting people and if he or one of his teammates is manhandled a little too much, he'll easily retaliate. That is both a blessing and a curse depending on the situation. So i think you'll see way more hits and potentially a fight if necessary from KK, compared to Barkov.

Barkov however has more 1 vs 1 and elite deking skill than what I can see from KK right now and what I project him to have in the future. That won't mean he won't be able to produce as much as Barkov has thus far but in terms of deking out a dman and making an absolute silly dke on a goalie, KK won't match sasha there. No slouch to KK. There are only a handful of players who can do what Barkov does skill wise.

I also see KK more as a shooter than Barkov who tends to be a pass first type of guy (generally). KK on multiple occasions rips that shot on a 2 on 1 without hesitation of whether the other guy is open.

With that said, its sooooo early for KK to project but early estimation is a hybrid Barkov/Kopitar type player. Not saying he will ever produce what those guys have done but he trending in that direction. The next couple years development will make all the difference on whether he becomes comparables to those players or not.

Very good and detailed analysis. I agree with those points. He has the potential, guess we will see what happens

In terms of elite offensive centers who are also defensive studs, nobody can touch him. Mark Stone is in that same realm, but he's a Winger.

cough Crosby cough

I would argue he's behind both of those two, but you're right he's certainly in that conversation

Crosby has steadily gotten better defensively each year and this season he’s an absolute juggernaut. He’s like a Yzerman. Focusing on his 200 foot game