Florida announced Tuesday that captain Aleksander Barkov will miss six to eight weeks with a lower-body injury and go on long-term injured reserve. Hours later, in a 2-1 win at Crypto.com Arena, Brad Marchand was helped off the ice after being high-sticked into the post.
The Panthers are 2-0-2. They are also now missing their captain and possibly their best veteran agitator four games into the season.
Barkov’s timeline
“He’s scheduled to be out 6-8 weeks, non-surgical rehab, and that’s our best window,” head coach Paul Maurice said.
Barkov went down awkwardly on a power play at 8:07 of the second period in a 4-3 loss to San Jose on October 1. That was only his second game back after missing all of 2025-26 with a right knee injury that required MCL and ACL repair, suffered on the first day of 2025 training camp.
A captain who missed an entire season, returned, and lasted two games before another lower-body injury is the kind of news that reframes a season. Lars Eller has moved into Barkov’s spot as the top-line center.
Marchand’s injury is unresolved
With 53 seconds left in the second period Tuesday, Kings defenseman Brandt Clarke high-sticked Marchand as he drove the net. Marchand contorted into the right post, held his left knee, stayed down several minutes and was helped off. Clarke got a double minor.
No diagnosis or timeline has been released. Reports indicated the team was assessing whether surgery is needed, which is not confirmed.
Marchand is 38 and this was only his second game of the season after missing the first two following offseason surgery. In his October 4 debut he tied the game with 1:50 left in a 3-2 overtime loss to Anaheim.
Florida won anyway, which is the Panthers’ whole personality
Seth Jones scored at 3:49 of the second, beating Darcy Kuemper top shelf. Matthew Tkachuk got the winner at 11:20 of the third on a wrist shot from the left circle, assisted by Sam Bennett. Alex Laferriere had scored for Los Angeles at 19:00 of the first.
Jacob Markstrom made 19 saves. Kuemper made 26. Dmitry Kulikov took a double-minor high-sticking penalty at 19:43 of the first, giving the Kings a two-man advantage that Florida killed.
That was the fourth and final game of a season-opening road trip. Los Angeles is 0-2-1 after its home opener.
What this does to Florida’s season
Six to eight weeks for Barkov puts his return somewhere in late November or December. The Panthers have built a roster deep enough to survive it, and they just went 2-0-2 on a four-game road trip without him for three of the games.
The Marchand situation is the one to watch. A 38-year-old forward with a knee injury after offseason surgery is not a two-week absence by default, and Florida has no replacement for what he does.
Four games in, a team with real Cup ambitions is winning with its captain in street clothes. That is impressive and not sustainable.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.