Fans of Finnish ice hockey player Aleksander Baekov have wondered whether he has a sister, but the fact is he doesn’t have one; instead, he has an older brother named Juri Barkov.
Aleksander Baekov Aka, “Sasha,” was born on September 2, 1995, in Tampere, Finland.
On October 1, 2011, Barkov made his junior career debut in SM-Liiga with Tappara and became the youngest player in the league to score a point by assisting on a goal by Kalle Kaijomaa.
Florida Panthers eventually selected him in the first round of the 2013 NHL Draft and debuted on October 3, 2013, against Dallas Stars.
In addition, he became the youngest player to score a goal in NHL debut at 18. Moreover, Barkov was named the 10th captain in Panthers franchise history, replacing Derek MacKenzie.
On October 8, 2021, he agreed to an eight-year contract extension with the Panthers worth $80 million.
Meet Aleksander Barkov Brother Juri Barkov
Juri Barkov is the older brother of Aleksander Barkov. He was born on February 20, 1985, in Russia.
Juri had aspirations of becoming a professional tennis player. He was even selected by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). However, injuries forced him to give up that dream.
Nowadays, he operates a company that provides digital management services to assist professional athletes in enhancing their brand presence on social media.
Juri is quite a private person and hasn’t come into the limelight even though he is the brother of a famous ice hockey player.
The two brothers come from a sporting background, as their father was an ice hockey player in Russia.
Aleksander Barkov’s father, Alexander Edgardovich Barkov Sr., is a former Russian ice hockey player. He was born on April 17, 1965, in Novosibirsk, Russia, and has dual Finnish and Russian citizenship.
He had a long playing career with the Soviet teams Sibir Novosibirsk and Spartak Moscow and later with Tappara of the Finnish SM-Liga.
Olga Barkov, the mother of Aleksander, is also a former basketball player who played on the Russian national basketball team.
Injuries
In the year 2016, Barkov suffered a hand injury during a game against the Chicago Blackhawks. As a result, he missed almost ten games.
He sustained an upper-body injury the same year after being struck by Detroit Red Wings forward Justin Abdelkader, missing six games while he recovered.
Likewise, in December 2016, Aleksander suffered an undisclosed injury during a 3–2 shootout loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
In November 2021, after a knee-on-knee collision with New York Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield, Barkov began an injury-plagued start to the 2021 season.
Barkov returned to the game after ten days, but unfortunately, he suffered another lower-body injury just a few days later.
Following that year, he suffered a knee injury during a game against the Blues in St. Louis. This forced him to miss several weeks.