The Florida Panthers will be without captain Aleksander Barkov for the foreseeable future after he suffered a lower-body injury against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday, October 1. Although the organization has yet to announce the full extent of the injury, the Panthers have placed Barkov on LTIR, making him ineligible to return until the end of November. If fans want to go down a deep rabbit hole, they can hop on social media and see opinions from many people, with many speculating he’ll be back by Christmas or miss the entire season.
Until Florida makes it official, fans should expect the Panthers to keep moving forward without their leader, a situation they've faced plenty of times over the past 13 seasons. Last year, Barkov tore his ACL and MCL in his right knee, causing him to miss the entirety of the 2025-26 season. Moreover, it marked the first time in his career that he missed an entire season, but as history will show, the greatest player in franchise history has missed 224 games and counting throughout his NHL career. How have the Panthers fared in his absence? The answers may actually surprise you.
Panthers are only three games under .500 without Barkov
As mentioned, Barkov missed the entire 2025-26 season, accounting for 36% of his missed games. Without the two-time Stanley Cup winner in the lineup, the Panthers still posted a 40-38-4 record but found themselves near the bottom of the Atlantic Division standings, far from a playoff spot.
During their back-to-back Stanley Cup championship seasons, Barkov missed 26 games, and the club went 11-11-2 in those contests. Before those years, he missed 29 games in 2022 and 2023, a significant increase from the nine games he missed from 2017 to 2020, which included the 2018-19 campaign, the only time he skated in all 82 games.
During his rookie year in 2013-14, he missed 28 games, followed by 11, 16, and 21 games. Out of a possible 1,030 games, including the Panthers' most recent battle with the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday night, Barkov has skated in 806 games, or 78.25% of the franchise's games since his debut.
Without Barkov, Florida has compiled a 102-105-17 record, or a .455 win percentage, which is a bit surprising given how invaluable he's been to the franchise. Usually, when a club loses its star player, it plummets and can't win games consistently, yet the Panthers have managed to survive many of his absences. However, other statistics raise more concern.
Despite the wins, the Panthers struggle in other areas
As the Panthers’ all-time leading scorer, it’s no surprise the club struggles without the three-time Selke Trophy winner. Heading into their Tuesday clash with the Los Angeles Kings, Florida has a minus-99 goal differential without their captain. Opponents have outscored the Panthers 740-641, though Florida still outshot its opponents by 158 (6,816-6,658).
Another interesting nugget comes on special teams, where the Panthers trail opponents by 30 goals, scoring just 124 compared to the 154 they've allowed. Moreover, Florida is barely ahead in shorthanded goals, leading 23-21.
One of the most fascinating statistics about Barkov’s absence concerns faceoffs. In these 224 games without their top-line center, the Panthers' win percentage in the circle drops to 47.55%, and they've been schooled on the draw by a considerable margin of 6,906 to 6,261.
When Barkov went down before training camp even opened last year, it seemed the Panthers weren't equipped to go a full season without their captain. Before he missed an entire season, Florida was only 62-66-13 without him, with a goal differential of minus-73.
Today, thanks to Bill Zito's creative roster-building, the Panthers are a much stronger and healthier team than last year, so they will be better equipped to offset the captain’s absence. Historically, they've survived his absence on numerous occasions, and although the results aren't always encouraging, they are far from disastrous.
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