The 2015 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship offers another opportunity for Barkov to represent his country, and win a medal but this time to do so on the ice.
In his rookie season in the NHL, Barkov was named to the Finnish 2014 Olympic team and given the chance to play alongside Mikael Granlund and Teemu Selanne.
To play alongside Selanne, who is a national hero in Finland, would have been a welcome chance to learn from one of the best. The anticipation of contributing at the Olympics was short lived when Barkov suffered a knee injury that ended his season altogether.