If the Florida Panthers want to win a third consecutive Stanley Cup, they will likely have to do so without their captain on the ice.

Panthers center Aleksander Barkov on Friday underwent surgery to repair injuries to the ACL and MCL in his right knee. His timeline for recovery is between seven and nine months, all but ensuring he will miss the entire 2025-26 season, although it leaves a sliver of hope that Barkov could return for the Stanley Cup playoffs if he is on the fast end of the recovery.

“That’s the big man,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “He’s such an important place in that locker room. What we’re going to get to experience now is you’ll get to know some of the other leaders that we have in our room. We’ll get to see other players. At the end of the day, I know there’s the idea of next man up, I get all that, but there’s not a next man for Barky’s skates.”

The injury occurred during a noncontact drill at practice on Thursday, the first full session of training camp for the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions after almost all of the team’s regulars were given the first week of camp to focus on individual work following a third consecutive short offseason.

Barkov fell to his knees shortly before a minor collision with defenseman Niko Mikkola. Barkov laid on the ice for several minutes before a pair of staff members helped him to the dressing room. Barkov put very little weight on his right leg while leaving the ice.

“We all texted Barky, and I talked to him, and he’s doing all right,” center Anton Lundell said. “So that’s all we know, and we just hope it’s going to be a quick recovery.”

The news is a blow to the Panthers, who are also slated to be without star winger Matthew Tkachuk and fourth-line center Tomas Nosek for multiple months to start the season as they recover from offseason surgeries.

Barkov, entering his eighth season as Florida’s captain and 13th season with the Panthers overall, is the heart and soul of the team.

The 29-year-old center owns the franchise records for career games played (804), goals (286), assists (496), points (782), power-play goals (84) and game-winning goals (52). He is a three-time winner of the Selke Trophy, given annually to the NHL’s best defensive forward, including each of the past two seasons.

Barkov led the team last season with 51 assists and had 71 points in 67 regular-season games. He then added another 22 points (six goals, 16 assists) in 23 Stanley Cup playoff games while shutting down some of the league’s top players, including the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Nikita Kucherov, Toronto Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews and Edmonton Oilers’ Connor McDavid on the Panthers' way to repeating as Stanley Cup champions.

Barkov is the first Finnish captain to lead his team to a Stanley Cup title and was expected to hold that title for Finland in the 2026 Winter Olympics just like he did during the 4 Nations Face-Off in February.

But his impact extends far beyond just the production on the ice. Barkov’s lead-by-example nature has been a driving force in Florida’s dressing room during their ascent to one of the league’s top teams.

“Sasha has almost become like a planet, with the energy that comes from him,” Panthers president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Zito said during last season’s Stanley Cup championship run. “How caring he is as a human and a teammate — he forces you to want to be better.”

Now, the Panthers will have to play better for him and will see their depth tested.

Florida will open the season without two of its top four centers, plus an All-Star winger who usually mans the right side of their second line.

At practice on Friday, Maurice moved center Sam Bennett to the top line with Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart on his wings. The line of Lundell centering Eetu Luostainen and Brad Marchand, which was one of Florida’s best lines during the playoff run last season, remained intact but now is the team’s No. 2 line instead of No. 3.

After that, Evan Rodrigues (who has primarily played wing) centered Florida’s new third line with Jesper Boqvist and Mackie Samoskevich. The Panthers’ fourth line on Friday was Luke Kunin centering AJ Greer and Noah Gregor, who is in camp on a professional tryout and likely filling in for Jonah Gadjovich (lower-body).

“It’s going to be tough. He’s our leader,” Verhaeghe said. “There’s no replacing Barky. So it’s going to be [that] everyone has to step up, and there’s no replacing him. But it’s another challenge for our group, and we’re usually pretty good at overcoming challenges. So it’s something we’re going to have to do.”

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