Barkov Skates For Finland After ACL Injury Changed His Season

Aleksander Barkov’s decision to suit up for Finland comes with plenty of context, because the injury that wiped out his season would have kept a lot of players off the ice entirely. Instead, he is stepping back into a high-pressure setting that says as much about his mentality as it does about his medical chart. Teams always talk about leadership and competitiveness in the abstract, but this is what it looks like when it gets real.