Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov went down with an apparent injury to his right leg during a practice skate on Thursday, joining a growing list of players who are unavailable for the team right now.
After an awkward collision with teammate Niko Mikkola sent Barkov down to the ice, he struggled to get up and was ultimately helped off the rink without putting any weight on his right leg. Barkov is currently undergoing evaluation to determine how serious the injury is.
Even more unfortunate is that this was the first time the Panthers' veteran skaters were back on the ice for training camp, as NHL.com reported that the core group was doing off-ice work during the week leading up to practice on Thursday.
Barkov is no stranger to the press box, having dealt with a plethora of minor injuries over his career thus far. He was sidelined for 15 games this past season, and dating back across the last four seasons, Barkov has been held out of 53 matchups due to various ailments including one previous knee injury in Nov. 2023.
Coach Paul Maurice stated that the team is prepared to make adjuustments where necessary in order to replace Barkov, should he be missing a significant amount of time this season.
"The veteran players here are going to play two exhibition games," Maurice told the Miami Herald. "If we get a chance to look at something that we haven’t seen before, we would like to do that in those two... if somebody’s going down, that’s where you get the chance to look at possibly a new combination."
Here's video of Panthers Captain Aleksander Barkov going down today at practice... https://t.co/g32uLiJzjk pic.twitter.com/QIAamOdqzd
— WPLG Local 10 News (@WPLGLocal10) September 25, 2025
Barkov becomes the third key Panthers forward to go down with an injury
With the captain's health being called into question, Barkov is now the third forward on the team to be dealing with an injury. Most notably, Matthew Tkachuk is also going to be out until at least December after undergoing offseason surgery to repair a sports hernia and a torn adductor.
Barkov and Tkachuk are two of the main driving forces behind the Panthers' offense. The pair combined for 128 points during the 2024-25 regular season, during which Florida scored 246 goals. That's not to mention the Stanley Cup victory in June, when Tkachuk was tied for the team lead with 23 points and Barkov trailed behind with 22 points in 23 games played.
But the duo offers much more than just points on the scoresheet -- Barkov has back-to-back Selke Trophy wins for a reason. He is competitive in all three zones, and has consistently ranked among the league's best two-way forwards for the last decade. (Literally -- he began getting consistent Selke votes during the 2015-16 season.)
On the other hand, Tkachuk's drive and tenacity coupled with his offensive prowess makes him an elite power forward in the NHL. The two-time 40-goal scorer is responsible for bringing energy, compete, and a wicked shot to every game.
Lower in the lineup, center Tomas Nosek is also going to be out for several months after having surgery for a lower-body injury this offseason. The 32-year-old has finished above 50 percent in faceoffs every year of his career so far, and additionally laid out 44 hits in just 16 playoff games in June.
The Panthers are in quite the unfavorable position as we approach the regular season with not only two of its top players down and out, but the fourth-line center injured as well. Maurice to this point hasn't hit the panic button just yet, but it will require some serious stategizing to replace the trio of injured forwards.