Aleksander Barkov is expected to be out 7-9 months for the Florida Panthers after undergoing surgery on his ACL and MCL in his right knee on Friday.
The injury occurred at practice on Thursday, when the 30-year-old center had to be helped off the ice following a collision with Panthers defenseman Niko Mikkola. The practice was the first time Panthers veterans had been on the ice during training camp; coach Paul Maurice had them working out away from it for the first week of camp.
Because of the recovery timeline, Barkov will likely miss at least the entire regular season for the Panthers. Their final regular-season game is against the Detroit Red Wings on April 15, just shy of seven months from now.
The injury is the latest blow for the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions, who open their season at home against the Chicago Blackhawks on Oct. 7 (5 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN1, TVAS).
The Panthers are already going to start the season without top forward Matthew Tkachuk, who had surgery to repair a torn adductor muscle on Aug. 22 and is expected to be out until at least December, general manager Bill Zito said. Fourth-line center Tomas Nosek is also out because of what Zito called a “long-term injury.”
“There’s no hiding it, that’s a hole,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said Friday. “That’s the big man, right? [Barkov] has such an important place in that locker room. I think what we’re going to get to experience now is you’ll get to know some of the other leaders that we have in our room. We’ll get to see other players and, at the end of the day, I know there’s the idea, ‘next man up,’ I get all that, but there’s not a next man for ‘Barky’s’ skates. So, we’ve just got to share it. It’s got to spread across the room and the coaches.
“You don’t want this to happen, but it might as well happen early so we can deal with it and learn a lot more about the other players we have. … It was 20 minutes into the first practice and we hadn’t even gotten into anything heavy yet. He’s not breathing hard at that point. It’s a fluke play.”
Barkov ranked second on the Panthers with 71 points (20 goals, 51 assists) in 67 games last season. He was also second on the team in power-play points (28), short-handed points (four) and takeaways (34), and led the team in face-offs taken (1,026) and face-off percentage (56.5).
After the season, Barkov was awarded the Selke Trophy, which is given to the best defensive forward in the NHL, for the third time in his career (2023-24, 2020-21).
During the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Barkov again played an integral part to help the Panthers win their second straight championship. He was tied for fourth on the team with 22 points (six goals, 16 assists) in 23 games, was tied for fifth in blocks with 24, and he led the NHL in face-offs taken (446) and was second in face-off percentage (58.3; minimum 100 draws).
“I think it was pretty tough for the whole team, to be honest,” Panthers forward Anton Lundell said. “You never want to see anybody get hurt, especially Barky, on the first day, first practice of camp.
“Obviously, not having Barky in the lineup means everybody else needs to step up to fill his shoes, so as a team that’s going to be our challenge and that’s going to be our goal this year.”
Selected by the Panthers with the No. 2 pick in the 2013 NHL Draft, Barkov ranks first in Florida’s history in goals (286), assists (496), points (782), power-play goals, (84), power-play points (243) and short-handed points (23). He also ranks first in their playoff history in assists (56) and points (81).
Barkov was named the 10th captain in Panthers history on Sept. 17, 2018, and less than six years later, when the Panthers won their first championship by defeating the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 in Game 7 of the 2024 Final, he became the first Finland-born captain in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup.
“It’s going to be tough,” Florida forward Carter Verhaeghe said. “He’s our leader. There’s no replacing Barky, so everyone has to step up. … It’s another challenge for our group, and we’re usually pretty good at overcoming challenges, so it’s something were going to have to do.
“It seems like every year there’s different adversity, and I think anytime you go through adversity it makes you stronger, it makes you a better team, and guys bond more and guys get put in different roles and it helps their game. But obviously it [stinks] seeing one of your teammates, one of your friends go down.”
Barkov’s injury means he will also miss the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 this February. After playing for Finland as an 18-year-old at the 2014 Sochi Olympics — the last time NHL players competed at the tournament — Barkov had been one of the six players named to his country’s preliminary roster on June 16. He had also been the captain for Finland at the 4 Nations Face-Off.
NHL.com independent correspondent George Richards contributed to this report
You must be logged in to post a comment.