The Florida Panthers, just like last season, have found some terrible injury luck right out of the gates.
Earlier this week, it was Brad Marchand going down with looked like a painful knee injury. And last week, it was the captain Aleksander Barkov hurting his knee while taking on the San Jose Sharks.
The Barkov injury sparked some immediate speculation about whether a trade could be in the cards.
But then the Barkov diagnosis came back, and it wasn’t as bad as some might’ve expected.
That all ties together with the Detroit Red Wings and Dylan Larkin. Here’s how.
Aleksander Barkov Injury Update
Barkov was viewed initially as a possibility to miss the rest of the season, just like happened last year.
But then the diagnosis was much friendlier.
“There was a huge sigh of relief throughout the Florida Panthers organization after team doctors gave their prognosis on captain Aleksander Barkov: He’s out six to eight weeks and is avoiding surgery,” The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun wrote on Wednesday. “It’s about the best-case scenario, given how it looked when he was injured. For sure, it’s night and day from a year ago, when the Panthers were finding out that they’d lose Barkov for the full season with a torn ACL and MCL, suffered on the first day of training camp.”
A two-month absence for Barkov is something the Panthers can overcome, at least a lot better than a full-season missing like last year.
Aleksander Barkov Replaced by Dylan Larkin?
If Barkov had missed the whole season, the noise would’ve gotten louder and louder for the Panthers to trade for Larkin, the disgruntled Red Wings star.
But with this diagnosis, the Panthers really can’t do that anymore.
“All of which should quell the speculation tying the team to Dylan Larkin,” LeBrun writes. “My understanding is that there wasn’t validity to that speculation in the first place. But with the news Tuesday, it becomes a moot point anyway. Because Barkov will be back this season, it’s not like the Panthers can go out and spend his cap hit. Florida is also loaded at the center position already. And finally, in terms of planning out a bit further, the Panthers need to save for a rainy day — needing to extend Brady Tkachuk next summer, one year before the expiry of his deal. Which is to say, there’s a limit to how many shiny new toys the Panthers can go out and purchase. Never say never. Things can change. But right now I don’t see the fit for Larkin on the Panthers.”
A lot of the annoyed stars this offseason have been connected to the Panthers.
Brady Tkachuk ended up there from Ottawa, and while Connor Hellebuyck is still in Winnipeg, he was connected to Florida, too.
Maybe in a world where the salary cap wasn’t an issue, Larkin would’ve worked for the Panthers. Or if Barkov’s salary was really off the books for the rest of the year, maybe then.
But in this world, where Barkov is coming back at some point, the Panthers can’t make Larkin happen. They just need to get healthy themselves.
Panthers’ Aleksander Barkov Injury Update Impacts Dylan Larkin Trade