Florida Panthers Captain Aleksander Barkov Undergoing Surgery

Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov is undergoing surgery on his right knee after being injured in a training camp practice on Thursday, Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said on Friday.

Maurice did not give a timeline for Barkov’s return, however an update on his status is expected to come later on Friday — following his surgery. There’s a possibility the Panthers’ captain will miss the entire 2025-26 season.

The non-contact injury occurred after Barkov fell during a drill before making innocuous contact with defenseman Niko Mikkola.

After leading his team to a second straight Stanley Cup Final win last June, the 30-year-old Tampere, Finland native was entering his eighth season as captain of the Panthers and 13th NHL season overall.

This news comes just weeks after the Panthers announced their other star forward Matthew Tkachuk would be out until at least December after getting offseason surgery for a lower-body injury.

In 804 career regular season games, Barkov put up 286 goals, 496 assists and 782 points, while also being one of the top two-way forwards of his era, winning three Selke trophies, with two of those coming in the past two seasons. Across 94 career playoff games, Barkov totaled 25 goals and 56 assists for 81 points.

This story will be updated