Aleksander Barkov Undergoes Surgery, Expected to Miss Entire 2025-26 Season
The Florida Panthers have just suffered a terrible blow: their captain Aleksander Barkov will miss the entire 2025-26 season.
According to early reports from Elliotte Friedman, his rehabilitation will stretch over several months, ending his hopes of returning this year.
"'Barky' is in surgery right now," Maurice said Friday morning. "When he comes out, we'll get final information on how the surgery went and we will get you all the information and it will be pretty detailed. We'll be real transparent with it. That should happen hopefully later today." - Paul Maurice
Aleksander Barkov out for the 2025-26 season after knee surgery
It's a huge loss for the Panthers, who will have to manage without their number one center and offensive cornerstone. It's also worth noting that
Matthew Tkachuk is sidelined at least until December.
Barkov, in my opinion the most important and complete player for the Panthers, was crucial to the recent success of the Florida team.
He has often been injured since the beginning of his career. In fact, Barkov has only played all 82 games in a season once, and that was in 2018-2019.
Last year, he collected 71 points in 67 regular season games, in addition to adding 22 points in 23 playoff games.
I believe this absence completely changes the face of the team and could force management to look for quick solutions to fill this void.
| POLL |
SEPTEMBRE 26 | 301 ANSWERS Aleksander Barkov Undergoes Surgery, Expected to Miss Entire 2025-26 Season Do you think the Florida Panthers can remain competitive without Aleksander Barkov this season? |
| Yes | 175 | 58.1 % |
| No | 126 | 41.9 % |
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