You seem to really appreciate killer instics and thats not wrong. Rantanen is a hard worker. He wasnt that good prospect but is beast nowdays. I think Kakko is better prospect and hope he has that hard working mentality.
Well yeah, you are really right when I think of it again. Barkov was of course as a prospect in another tier when comparing to Rantanen. But Rantanen has developed even more and has become a same tier player as Barkov is nowadays. I can’t of course deny the wonderful skills that Barkov has, but honestly he has been extremely disappointing in the mental toughness department. And that is a very important area to be also at an excellent level if a player wants to be a real top class star.
I have been following both Barkov and Rantanen pretty much, as I follow in fact all of the real top Finnish prospects. And unfortunately Barkov has made me immensely frustrated, as he definitely has such great skills, but to me he really seems like quite a mentsl softy. Every bigger game that I have seen him play so far, he has been able to choke and make his disappearing act. Mostly in the National teams, but also he was completely in the shadows in the only NHL playoff series that he has played so far, which was against the Islanders. I can understand that a young center might really be in a tough spot against such a great proven NHL center as John Tavares, but still to get absolutely blown out of the water by Tavares, was also showing that Barkov has this serious problem of collapsing when he gets into the very tough and meaningful games.
I will also gladly eat crow if Barkov will after all start to show true mental toughness and the kind of killer instinct that I’m expecting from real top class players. He for sure has magnificent skills altogether. Although I do think that his defensive skills are also by some margin overrated, as for me takeaways (he is excellent in those for sure) are not really that important factor for good defence. Sure they are a nice thing to have, but not even close to as important as how well you are playing positionally and how well you contribute in preventing opponents from scoring when you are on the ice. Barkov gets still in this department too often the kind of complete off nights that he had against Dallas last night. I mean, his line was completely trashed by the Seguin-line. And Barkov is usually not playing with any scrubs, so blaming it on Florida as a bad team, does not cover it for me.
I do definitely hope that Barkov will prove me wrong in all of these things, as if he had a a real killer instinct and a clearly tougher mental side, he could maybe really become what he has a couple of times said as being his goal - to become the best player in the world. And I definitely hope that Kaapo will also become a real top player in the world in his prime. Nice times to be a Finnish hockey fan, with all these wonderful prospects emerging year after year.