The Florida Panthers have been bitten by the injury bug again. Alexander Barkov, who missed the entire 2025-26 campaign with a torn ACL and MCL, is injured again. He is currently dealing with a leg injury suffered in the second game of the season against the San Jose Sharks and has been placed on long-term IR. Reports are that Barkov will be missing from the Panthers for 10-12 weeks.

Now, Panthers coach Paul Maurice is putting doubts on the claims that he will miss that amount of time, per NHL.com.

“He's in with his doctors today and then we'll get a more solid answer for you tomorrow,” Maurice said after practice. “Do not bet your hard-earned money on that one. I know you can bet on everything these days. Hang onto your cash. Truly. If I don't know, nobody else does. That's fair.”

Barkov went down after playing just over nine minutes agaisnt the Sharks and less than thirty total minutes this year. He was battling for the puck in the corner on the power play when he went down. He fell awkwardly, but got up fairly quickly and asked for the Zamboni door to be opened. Barkov threw his gloves down in anger as he walked to the locker room. Considering he missed all of last season, it was clear frustration for the Panthers captain.

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“You're getting feathers,” Maurice added. “Sorry. You know why? Because we need a certain amount of information before we can make our best estimate, and we don't have that information. So, everybody's guessing. He's in with doctors.”

Maurice also recognized that it was difficult to see, considering last season, but understands the team can overcome.

“It was a difficult thing to go through last year,” Maurice said Saturday. “We've been through it, so we'll just deal with it. We handle our day, there's no point in looking a week out. We had a good practice (Saturday).”

The 1-0-2 Panthers return to the ice on Tuesday night against the Los Angeles Kings. They will then head home for the first time this year to host the Minnesota Wild on Saturday.