Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov is drawing Hall of Fame attention again, and this time the conversation feels even louder.
In The Athletic’s 2026 Hockey Hall of Fame tiers, Barkov landed in the second group, “Probably in - and still rising,” alongside Cale Makar and Auston Matthews. Writers Peter Baugh and Max Bultman said a strong argument could be made for all three to already belong in the top tier, pointing to the combination of peak performance, individual honors and championship or Olympic success. They also noted that all three are young enough to keep building their cases.
Barkov’s spot sparked one of the longest debates in the piece. Baugh and Bultman wrote that if he had not missed this season after ACL and MCL surgery, he likely would have moved up.
Even so, both said they would vote for him to be in the Hall already. Their hesitation was not about his résumé, but about whether the Hall of Fame committee would be completely convinced by a player with 804 games and counting numbers that still lag some other recent forward inductees.
The case for Barkov is already stacked. He is one of only four players with at least two Stanley Cup titles and three Selke Trophy wins.
The other three - Bob Gainey, Guy Carbonneau and Pavel Datsyuk - are already in the Hall. He has also been a point-per-game player over each of his past five seasons, adding elite offense to his defensive reputation.
On the international stage, Barkov won Olympic bronze in 2014 and, after recovering from his knee surgeries, captained Finland to World Championship gold this summer.
Brad Marchand also showed up in the tiers, landing in the third group, “Keep Compiling.” The Athletic pointed back to how Marchand strengthened his Hall case last year by helping push the Panthers to their second Stanley Cup win, which put him in the now-retired “Almost there - if not already a lock” category. He backed that up with 27 goals and 54 points in 52 games during the 2025-26 season, reached 1,000 career points and added an Olympic silver to his record.
At 38, Marchand still has five years left on his contract, and that gives him plenty of runway to keep adding to the resume. The Panthers’ win-now setup only helps.
Matthew Tkachuk was placed in the final tier discussed, “On Track.” The Athletic said he is not likely to win an MVP, though he already has a top-three finish.
Still, his Hall path looks clear if he keeps compiling. He is under 30, should comfortably get past 1,000 points, and already has Cup titles and international success to go with it.
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