Florida Panthers’ Three-Peat Dreams Potentially Crushed After Aleksander Barkov Suffers Leg Injury

Yeeaaahh … I’d be lying if I said this didn’t dampen the preseason as a Panthers fan.

The Florida Panthers are going for a three-peat championship this season, but those dreams ended up taking a knock during a training camp session Thursday morning. And that’s because Aleksander Barkov, the winner of the Selke Award and captain of the team, appeared to suffer some kind of leg injury. (RELATED: Hockey Broadcaster Has Absolutely Glorious Moment After Mom Wins 50/50 Drawing Live On Air)

To make it even worse, the Panthers have “internal concern it could involve his ACL,” according to Elite Prospects’ Cam Robinson.

Here’s video of Panthers Captain Aleksander Barkov going down today at practice… https://t.co/g32uLiJzjk pic.twitter.com/QIAamOdqzd

— WPLG Local 10 News (@WPLGLocal10) September 25, 2025

Losing a superstar like Matthew Tkachuk for a few months is one thing, but seeing your captain, the “heart and soul” of the franchise, go down in a possible season-ending injury is obviously worrisome. And seeing him having to be helped off the ice is a red flag you never want to see.

It’s caused fans to speculate what exact injury Barkov is dealing with, and many in South Florida were and still are freaking out about it. You can see examples here, here and here.

Well, the Panthers‘ social media team later gave an update on Barkov’s injury, and it didn’t do anything but make the speculation worse.

Coach’s update on Barkov following this morning’s Training Camp session:

“He will get looked at today.”

— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) September 25, 2025

I guess we’ll find out Friday, which is when we should have more clarity, but right now … rough!