Aleksander Barkov has surgery for serious knee injury, could miss entire season
The Panthers could be without their captain for the new season
Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov had surgery this morning for a serious knee injury suffered yesterday in practice. There’s no timetable yet, but some reporting suggests he could miss the entire season.
“There’s no hiding it, that’s a hole,’’ Paul Maurice said of losing his captain. “That’s the big man. 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 a 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.”
Maurice noted that it happened on a fluke play in practice that was unrelated to the 314 total games the Panthers played in the last three seasons.
“That’s why you can’t bubblewrap player, keep them out of games or save them,’’ Maurice added. “It can happen anywhere, can happen at practice.”
Maurice also said that when they have a firmer timeline on the injury and potential recovery time, they will give a full update.
This is a breaking story and will be updated.