Colby Guy
It has been an inevitability that most of the all-time marks in the Florida Panthers record book would belong to Sasha Barkov for quite some time.
That timeline has sped up.
Jonathan Huberdeau, Florida’s star of the past decade and owner of numerous franchise records, was shipped off to the Calgary Flames in a mega deal that brought Matthew Tkachuk to Sunrise.
Barkov was hot on Huberdeau’s tail for these records — and now takes the mantle as the longest-tenured Panther.
With the eight-year extension he signed last October starting this season, Barkov has a lot of time to set those records for his own.
How long will it take?
The 26-year-old forward already owns Florida’s all-time goal-scoring record, setting it in November and becoming the first player to score 200 goals as a Panther in January.
Barkov also became the second player to score 500 points in a Panther uniform with his 200th goal.
Huberdeau, Florida’s first 500-point scorer, finished the 2021-22 season with 198 goals, leaving Barkov as the only Panther to hit the 200-goal mark for quite some time.
Upon leaving for Calgary, Huberdeau owns the records for games played (671), assists (415) and points (613).
Barkov ranks fourth in games-played and second in the remaining two categories.
Here is where Barkov stands right now:
Sasha Barkov Career Stats: 596 games played (fourth), 220 goals (first), 333 assists (second), 553 points (second), 62 power play goals (third), 11 shorthanded goals (third), 38 game-winning goals (first), eight overtime goals (second)
And now, here is a look at the Panthers’ all-time leaders and how long it could take for Barkov to break the franchise record.
Games Played leader: Jonathan Huberdeau — 671
Barkov needs 76 games played to break the record
We will start with one of the easier records to track here: games played.
If Barkov can stay relatively healthy and miss six or fewer games during the 2022-23 season, he will become the Panthers’ all-time leader in games played at the end of the season.
Is it realistic though?
Barkov has only played more than 76 games in a regular season twice in his NHL career — 2017-18 and 2018-19.
The latter year was the only year where he played in all 82 of Florida’s games.
During the two COVID-shortened campaigns, he played in 66 of the 69 games Florida played in 2019-20 and 50 of 56 games in 2021-22.
He missed a total of 15 games last year due to separate upper and lower body injuries suffered back-to-back.
It is really hard to dress in all 82 games in a sport like hockey, where injuries are abundant, so this one could very well be delayed until next October.
The Panthers would much rather have Barkov healthy for the playoffs than see him get injured trying to break this record.
Assists leader: Jonathan Huberdeau — 415
Barkov needs 83 assists to break the record
Unless Barkov strays from his current play style, this record will take more than one season to break.
Over the course of his career, he has averaged roughly 45 assists per 82 games, topping out at 61 assists in 2018-19.
With his game shifting more towards a shoot-first mentality, it is hard to see him hitting the 83-assist mark in one season.
Of course, introducing another prolific goal scorer in Tkachuk to the fold could present more assist opportunities, but both players are solid enough passers to play off of each other and score goals.
I see Barkov putting up a total near 50 assists — he had 49 in 67 games last year — and breaking this record in late February to early March of 2024.
Still, it is not out of the realm of possibility if he happens to have a true MVP-type campaign, but I see 40 to 50 goals and 60 assists as the likely outcome if he does reach MVP status.
Points leader: Jonathan Huberdeau — 613
Barkov needs 61 points to break the record
Barring a major injury, a lockout or another global pandemic, this record will be broken this season.
Barkov has scored on or near a point-per-game clip in each of the last five seasons.
You could even argue seven if you accept 52 in 61 and 59 in 66 as ‘near’ — but you get the point.
With that clip of production and assuming he does not miss time, he could have this record in the bag by mid-March.
If he really gets off to a hot start, he could secure it by the start of February.
Power Play Goals leader: Scott Mellanby — 66
Barkov needs five power play goals to break the record
As long as Florida’s power play operates at anywhere near an acceptable clip, Barkov could have this one in the bag by the end of the calendar year.
Last season, it took him until Jan. 20 to score his fifth power play goal, albeit missing most of November and December due to injury.
He finished the season with 12, a mark he reached in each of the NHL’s last two full seasons.
Whether or not he hits those marks has a lot to do with what Paul Maurice decides to do with Florida’s power play and if some of the new pieces click quickly.
The team has undergone a lot of change, so it could take a bit for the power play to adjust accordingly.
When it does click, Barkov should have the record in hand shortly after.
I can see him breaking it around the same time he hit five power play goals last season — mid-January.
Shorthanded Goals leader: Radek Dvorak — 16
Barkov needs seven shorthanded goals to break the record
Shorthanded goals do not happen often, so this one will likely take at least one year.
Barkov was tied for second in the league — with four shorthanded goals — last year.
It was one of two seasons he hit that mark, hitting five in 2017-18 and only scoring two over the rest of his career.
With Barkov steadily in the conversation for best defensive forward in the NHL, he will continually get the penalty kill time to break it.
It’s just a matter of how many rush opportunities on the penalty kill Barkov gets throughout the next couple of years to see if he gets to break it.
My best guess would be that it would take him until the 2024-25 season to break it, but shorthanded goals are such a volatile stat that you never truly know.
Overtime Goals leader: Olli Jokinen — 10
Barkov needs three overtime goals to break the record
This record could either be broken extremely quickly or it might take a while.
It just depends on how many times the Panthers get taken to overtime throughout the regular season.
Looking at Barkov’s career numbers, he has maxed out at just two overtime goals in a single season.
He scored two overtime winners four times in his career and did not score any in the remaining five seasons of his career.
Looking at the NHL’s leaders last season, only 10 players scored three or more overtime winners.
Alex DeBrincat and Connor McDavid each led the league with four.
More likely than not, this one will be broken at some point in 2023-24 but it is volatile enough to happen at any time.