He is the best two way forward of his generation, with his only real competitor there being Toews. Classy guy as well.
this Barkov kid is only getting started... if they are considered same generation I think theres a decent chance Barkov will be favorably compared to Bergeron by the time its all said and done.
that said, Bergeron is horribly underrated imo. toews is not a true competitor. toews got a HUGE bump in his rep by being part of that Chicago black hawk hyped team.
kopitar got a similar bump in rep being in LA.
a lot of guys like toews/kopitar/kesler are fine 2-way players but the only time they get much consideration for selke is when they have their 70-80 point seasons. if they struggle and only score 50 points they drop right out of the talk.
scoring points IS NOT DEFENSE... but hype is generated by offense and these guys get hype by being a big scoring 'checking' center on a cup winning team.
Bergeron still wins his selkes when hes getting 50 points on a non-playoff team. his brilliance defensively was never dependent on being a 60 point plus scorer
now Barkov is going to put up much better offensive numbers than Bergeron during his career... I just said offense isnt defense... but Barkov imo is a better defensive player than Bergeron was at the same time in their young careers.
Barkov will be hurt for the time being playing on a suck team without much media hype... but that probably wont last forever. bergerons dedication led to him improving with age. Barkov might not be as good as Bergeron so late in his career?
but yeah... I have to say if im rating the top 2 way players ive seen over the last 20 years I go with Bergeron as a slight favorite for number 1... pavel datsyuk and sergei federov so damn close I might be wrong about my first place vote {if we are including guys outside the nhl now} and then Barkov as the kid that could eclipse them all