Florida Panthers Captain Sasha Barkov Out for the Season

Florida Panthers captain Sasha Barkov will likely be out for the upcoming season after having surgery on his right knee on Friday.

The Panthers announced Friday night that Barkov sustained injuries to his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and medial collateral ligament (MCL) at Thursday’s practice.

Barkov’s surgery was performed by Dr. John Uribe at Baptist Health Doctors Hospital.

Per the team, the expected recovery timeline for Barkov is 7 to 9 months.

surgery.

“There’s no hiding it, that’s a hole,’’ Maurice said of losing Barkov. “That’s the big man. He is such an important piece in that locker room. What we’ll get to know now is some of the other leaders in the room

“We’ll get to see other players and, at the end of the day, I know there’s the idea of ‘next man up,’ and I get all that. But there’s no a next-man for Barky’s skates. We just have to share it, spread it across the room and among the coaches. We have to share that.”

Barkov was injured Thursday when he was moving in on defenseman Niko Mikkola, planted his right leg, and went down.

Maurice called it a “fluke play.”

“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,” Maurice said.

2024 STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS 2025

FLORIDA PANTHERS

ON DECK

• Preseason Game No. 4: Monday vs. Carolina Hurricanes, 6 (Panthers+, Scripps)
• Preseason Game No. 5: Tuesday vs. Tampa Bay Lightning at Orlando, 7 (Panthers+, Scripps)
• Championship Ring Celebration: Oct. 6, FTL War Memorial
• Opening Night: Oct 7 vs. Chicago Blackhawks, 5
• Complete Florida Panthers 2025-26 Schedule