The Panthers captain left the game in the second period in a 4-3 overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks on Thursday.
Barkov will see a doctor Monday to determine the extent of the injury, but Florida’s top center will miss at least 10 games and 24 days while being placed on LTIR.
Barkov fell awkwardly while fighting for the puck in the right corner during a power play at 8:07. After getting up, he immediately called for the Zamboni doors to be opened and threw down his gloves as he headed to the locker room.
The 31-year-old was playing in just his second game this season after missing the entire 2025-26 season due to a right knee injury he suffered on the first day of training camp. He underwent surgery the day after the injury to repair his MCL and ACL.
“We don’t even know the extent of the injury yet, so it’s nothing like last year,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said of Barkov’s injury last season. “Last year, we were playing on a quarter of a tank of gas, and we had other guys that were going to leave our lineup the following week. So this one, we have good depth. Everybody’s going to get there.”
Although Barkov was unavailable for Florida last season, he played for Finland at the 2026 IIHF World Championship in Switzerland in May. He served as captain and had 11 points (three goals, eight assists) in 10 games, helping his country win the gold medal.
“It was a tough thing to go through last year,” Maurice said. “We’ve been through that, so we’ll just deal with it. We deal with our day, there’s no point looking at a week later. We had a good practice (Saturday).”
Barkov played 20:32 in the Panthers’ season opener Tuesday, a 1-0 overtime win over the Carolina Hurricanes.
Selected by Florida second overall in the 2013 NHL Draft, Barkov has 782 points (286 goals, 496 assists) in 806 regular season games. He also has 81 points (25 goals, 56 assists) in 94 Stanley Cup Playoff games, leading Florida to back-to-back championships in 2024 and 2025.
He is a three-time Selke Trophy winner as the NHL’s top defensive forward (2020-21, 2023-24, 2024-25) and also won the Lady Byng Trophy for sportsmanship and gentleman’s play in 2018-19.
Lars Eller will move to center on the top line with Brady Tkachuk and Sam Reinhart in Barkov’s absence. There will be his first chance against the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday (8 p.m. ET; Prime Video, SCRIPPS, KCOP-13, TVAS).
“No one is going to be able to replace Sasha Barkov, and I’m not trying to, I’m just trying to play my own identity and complement my teammates and I’m playing with really good players no matter what, and I appreciate the opportunity,” Eller said.
Florida is also without forward Brad Marchand, who underwent offseason surgery for a lower-body injury, and defenseman Gustav Forsling (upper body) did not play Thursday. It will be a game-time decision on Sunday.
In addition to Barkov and Marchand last season, current Panthers forwards Matthew Tkachuk, Anton Lundell, Sam Reinhart and Jonah Gadjovich, as well as defensemen Seth Jones, Eetu Luostarinen and Dmitry Kulikov also missed significant time due to injuries.
Florida recalled forward Sam Lafferty and defenseman Alexander Petrovic from Charlotte of the American Hockey League on Saturday.
“It’s completely different from last year at this time,” Maurice said. “There’s really good depth here now, so we have some veteran NHL players who can come in and help us look toward the future.”
NHL.com freelance correspondent Dan Arritt contributed to this report.
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