Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov will miss at least seven to nine months after undergoing successful knee surgery on Friday to repair his ACL and MCL.
Barkov was injured during the team's first full day of camp on Thursday.
"You get one day to be sad. I had my day yesterday," said head coach Paul Maurice
"There's no hiding it, that's a hole. That's the big man," said Maurice. "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 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."
The 13-year veteran is coming off his 10th straight 20-goal season as the Panthers captain led his team to their second straight Stanley Cup victory.
Barkov, the former No. 2 overall draft pick, started his career in Florida after making his debut during the 2013-2014 season and has never played for another team since.
He's a three-time Selke Award recipient (2021, 2024, 2025) while also winning the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy (2018-2019) for sportsmanship and the King Clancy Memorial Trophy (2024-2025) for demonstrating exemplary leadership.
Florida will also be without their star forward Matthew Tkachuk until December due to a lower-body injury along with fourth-line center Tomas Nosek, who will also be out for an extensive period of time.
The Panthers' regular season starts on October 7th against the Chicago Blackhawks.