On Thursday morning, all was well with the Florida Panthers. Then, captain Sasha Barkov left the ice with an injury to his right knee.
Florida felt pretty good about things before Barkov got hurt and, well, why not?
The two-time defending Stanley Cup champions were going into a new season with pretty much the same team that they won the 2025 championship with.
Now, that is not the case.
Barkov sustained a right knee injury during the team’s first full on-ice workout of training camp.
Based on video shot by WPLG-10, Barkov’s right knee appears to buckle as he worked his way in on defenseman Niko Mikkola during a drill in the offensive zone.
Barkov, who has a history of knee injuries and this one, appeared to be hurt without any contact.
And it did not look good.
Although coach Paul Maurice did not have an update on Barkov’s injury immediately following practice, any time missed by Barkov will be felt by the Panthers.
Friday, Maurice confirmed Florida’s worst fears: Barkov underwent surgery to repair his knee.
A timeline for his potential return was not released, but it could be for the entirety of this season.
Florida is already without star forward Matthew Tkachuk for a few months; he is not expected to start practicing until late December and likely will not play until January.
Tomas Nosek, Florida’s fourth-line center, is also out for a considerable amount of time after having knee surgery following an offseason injury.
Here are some options for the Panthers if Barkov is out long-term:
Look for Anton Lundell to slide up to the top line and center Sam Reinhart on the right and a combo of Evan Rodrigues and Carter Verhaeghe on the left.
Maurice could also opt to keep Eetu Luostarinen with Lundell and Reinhart; those three have played very well together in the past.
Sam Bennett should remain the second line center, with Mackie Samoskevich perhaps on the right and either Rodrigues or Verhaeghe on the left.
Brad Marchand could also slide up and play on the right side of one of those lines.
This is where Florida’s depth gets tested.
So, who centers the third and fourth lines?
Florida did bring in Luke Kunin as a free agent this year and he could be the fourth line guy until Nosek returns.
The Panthers do have Jesper Boqvist who could play a little center as well — although a quick fix could be moving the wings around and allowing Rodrigues to jump into the middle for a bit.
Florida also has veterans Tyler Motte and Noah Gregor in camp on professional tryouts to provide forward depth.
The Panthers signed Nolan Foote to a one-year deal in July for depth.
One or more of those players could end up making the team at least for the time being to provide depth on the bottom-6 at least to start the season.
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
Motte, who played for GM Bill Zito both in Columbus and for AHL Cleveland during the 2017-18 season, may just be an option here.
AJ Greer, who plays on the left side of the fourth line, has also played center in the past and could be called on to do so again.
These could just be short-term fixes.
If Barkov is out long-term, the Panthers may look outside of what they currently have for help.
Once Tkachuk is put on long-term injured reserve, the Panthers should be around $5 million under the cap.
Barkov makes $10 million and his cap number could also be in play here if not now, but down the road.
The Panthers do not have many trade chips to offer and, with teams in the midst of training camp, bringing in someone new from another team does not seem likely.
One wild card is Jack Roslovic.
The 28-year-old played for Maurice in Winnipeg and Zito in Columbus; he remains on the market after scoring 22 goals for the Carolina Hurricanes last year.
Rumor has it that the Columbus native turned down multi-year deals when free agency started and is not in camp on a PTO with any other team.
As they say, stay tuned.
2024 STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS 2025
FLORIDA PANTHERS
ON DECK
