The Florida Panthers already knew that the winning the Stanley Cup for the third straight season wasn’t going to be easy.
Their challenge got significantly more difficult, though, with the news that center Aleksander Barkov, their captain and a three-time winner of the Selke Trophy as the NHL’s top defensive forward, is expected to at least miss the entire regular season after having surgery on his right knee on Friday. The Panthers announced the recovery time is 7-9 months.
“There’s no hiding it,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “That’s a hole. That’s the big man. He is such an important piece in that locker room.”
Losing Barkov, who was injured during a training camp practice Thursday, with left wing Matthew Tkachuk, who general manager Bill Zito said had surgery Aug. 22 to repair a torn adductor muscle, also out at least until December, leaves the Panthers without two of their top forwards and their unquestioned leaders.
Barkov leads by example with his two-way play and quiet, calm determination. Tkachuk is louder and often brash in his play and attitude. The trade that brought Tkachuk to Florida from the Calgary Flames in 2022 provided a perfect yang to Barkov’s yin and helped change the culture of a team that had won only one playoff series since its run to the 1996 Stanley Cup Final that ended in a sweep against the Colorado Avalanche.
Florida has reached the Stanley Cup Final in three consecutive seasons since the trade, losing the first to the Vegas Golden Knights before winning the past two against the Edmonton Oilers.
Now, there’s a huge hole in the Panthers lineup and locker room. Don’t expect them to spend the first two months of the season sulking about it, though.
“You get one day to be sad,” Maurice said. “I had my day yesterday.”
The good news is that Tkachuk will be back at some point and the Panthers maintained most of the depth that put them over the top against the Oilers in the Cup Final. The re-signings of forwards Sam Bennett (eight years, $64 million) and Brad Marchand (six years, $31.5 million) and defenseman Aaron Ekblad (eight years, $48.8 million) will be pivotal to their quest to get by and qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs without Barkov and Tkachuk.
Judging by the lines at practice Friday, Bennett, the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as most valuable player in the playoffs last season, will move up from the second line to fill in for Barkov on the first line between Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart. Florida’s third line of Eetu Luostarinen, Anton Lundell and Marchand, which was a difference maker throughout the playoffs last season, has suddenly become its second line.
Lundell, who had 18 points (six goals, 12 assists) in 23 playoff games last season, has been overshadowed for much of his first four NHL seasons, but the 23-year-old has excelled in the past when playing a bigger role because of injuries. Now, the player some call Baby Barkov will have an extended opportunity to shine in the absence of his fellow Finland native.
“We’ve got to move on as a team and it’s time for everybody to step up,” Lundell said. “Especially for me, it’s an opportunity to bring something even more to the table and something I want to take as a good challenge.”
Forward Mackie Samoskevich will have a similar chance because of Tkachuk’s injury. The 22-year-old had 31 points (15 goals, 16 assists) in 72 regular-season games as a rookie last season, but was limited to four games in the playoffs (one assist) and none after Game 2 of the second round against the Toronto Maple Leafs because of the Panthers’ unmatched depth at forward.
With fourth-line center Tomas Nosek also out long-term with a lower-body injury, Luke Kunin, who signed a one-year contract on Aug. 22, will get a shot to fill his role.
“We have so many great players,” Verhaeghe said. “We had guys last year that didn’t even get to play sometimes that deserved to play. I think it gives some guys an opportunity.”
No team has won the Cup in three consecutive seasons since the New York Islanders’ run of four in a row from 1980-1983, so it was always going to be an uphill climb. The Panthers understand losing Barkov changed the equation but believe they still have the numbers to solve it.
“It’s going to be everybody has to step up,” Verhaeghe said. “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.”
Although Barkov is soft-spoken, he is a towering presence, not only because of his 6-foot-3, 214-pound presence but the way he carries himself and handles the pressure of big games. Helping hold Oilers center Connor McDavid to two points (one goal, one assist) in the final four games of the Cup Final — the Panthers won three of them — might have been his most important role, but his calming influence was a close second.
The Panthers didn’t blink after allowing a 3-0 lead slip away in their 5-4 overtime loss in Game 4 and rebounded to win the last two games by a combined 10-3.
“What we’ll get to know now is some of the other leaders in the room,” Maurice said. “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 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.”
NHL.com independent correspondent George Richards contributed to this report