FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The Florida Panthers’ quest for a third consecutive Stanley Cup has suffered a major blow, as captain Aleksander Barkov could miss the entire regular season with a knee injury.
Barkov was injured during the first official practice of training camp on Thursday and underwent surgery for the injury on Friday. Coach Paul Maurice confirmed that the star center is expected to be sidelined for several months, a timeline that jeopardizes his season and ends his plans to represent Finland at the Milan-Cortina Olympics in February.
The team stated it would release more specific details once the surgical procedure was complete.
“I know the idea is next man up,” Maurice said. “There isn’t a next man to fill Barky’s skates.”
The injury compounds an already challenging start for the Panthers. The team will also be without star forward Matthew Tkachuk, who is recovering from offseason surgery to repair a torn adductor muscle and is not expected to return before December. Since Tkachuk’s arrival in 2022, Florida has played only five games without both him and Barkov in the lineup, winning three of those contests.
Barkov’s absence creates a significant void. Last season, he led the Panthers in assists (51) and was second in points (71) during the regular season, before adding six goals and 16 assists in their championship playoff run. A remarkably durable player over his 12-year career, this is his first injury with the potential to sideline him for an entire season.
Barkov is Florida’s all-time franchise leader in numerous categories, including games played (804), goals (286), assists (496), points (782), power-play goals (84), and game-winning goals (52).
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