Barkov joins 2023 NHL All-Star Game as injury replacement, giving host Panthers a second rep

© Daniel A. Varela/Miami Herald/TNS Florida Panthers center Aleksander Barkov (16) controls the puck during the third period of an NHL game against the Tampa Bay Lightning at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, Florida, on Friday, October 21, 2022.

Aleksander Barkov will be taking part in the 2023 NHL All-Star Game, after all.

The Florida Panthers’ star center is replacing Auston Matthews on the Atlantic Division’s roster after the Toronto Maple Leafs’ superstar center had to drop out of the game because of an injury.

This will be Barkov’s first appearance in an NHL All-Star Game since 2018 and only his second appearance ever, and it will come with the game in Sunrise for the first time since 2003.

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Barkov joins All-Star right wing Matthew Tkachuk as the Panthers set to suit up for the Atlantic on Feb. 4 at FLA Live Arena. Tkachuk, 25 and in his first season in Florida, was chosen by the league’s department of hockey operations Jan. 5 as part of the NHL’s first round of All-Star selections, in which one player from each team was picked. Barkov, 27, now gets in as an injury replacement after he was not voted into the game during a fan vote, which filled out the rest of the initial All-Star rosters.

Although this will only be his second time in the All-Star Game, Barkov has established himself as one of the league’s best all-around players in the past few years. He won the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the league’s top defensive forward after the 2020-21 NHL season and finished third in voting for the award last year. He also finished in the top 12 of voting for the Hart Memorial Trophy — the NHL’s most valuable player award — in each of the past two seasons.

Although he has missed 10 games this year due to an injury and a bout with pneumonia, Barkov still has 13 goals and 30 assists in 40 games, while also playing significant minutes on the power play and penalty kill. The Finnish All-Star ranks sixth among forwards in average time on ice at 21:23 per game and, as the captain of the All-Star Game’s host team, always made sense as a first alternate in his division.

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