FORT LAUDERDALE – The Florida Panthers are no strangers to adversity.

But this latest test is tougher than most.

The beating heart of the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions, captain Aleksander Barkov underwent surgery to repair a knee injury, head coach Paul Maurice announced on Friday.

At the time of this writing, there’s still no full timetable for his recovery.

“There’s no hiding it – that’s the big man,” Maurice said. “He’s such an important place in that locker room. What we’re going to get to experience now is you’ll get to know some of the other leaders that we have in our room. We’ll get to see other players. At the end of the day, I know there’s the idea of next man up, I get all that, but there’s not a next man for his skates.”

The injury occurred on Thursday during the first full day of training camp for Florida’s veterans, who’d been given an extra week to prepare and go through their own individual routines following three straight shortened summers.

After a minor collision during a drill, Barkov’s right leg bent awkwardly as he fell to the ice. He was eventually helped to the locker room by a pair of trainers, putting little weight on the leg in question.

“Seeing one of your friends go down, it sucks,” teammate Carter Verhaeghe said.

Preparing for his 13th NHL season, Barkov, who the Panthers drafted with the second-overall pick in 2013, stands as the franchise’s all-time leader in essentially every major category, including goals (286), assists (496), points (782) and games played (804).

Widely considered the best two-way player currently in the NHL, Barkov is a three-time winner of the Selke Trophy, which is given annually to the league’s best defensive forward. Winning his first Selke in 2021, he’s taken home the award each of the last two seasons.

After becoming the first Finnish-born player to captain a team to the Stanley Cup in 2023, Barkov became the first European to captain a team to multiple Stanley Cups in 2024. Over those back-to-back Cup runs, he’s tied for second on Florida in scoring with 44 points (18G, 26A).

As Maurice said, you can’t replace that type of player.

Still, the Panthers know they have the talent and experience to press on.

“You never want to see anybody get hurt, especially Barky on the first day, the first practice of camp,” said teammate Anton Lundell, who’s expected to see an elevated role in Barkov’s absence. “The mood was a little bit down, for sure, yesterday. We all texted Barky. I talked to him, and he’s doing alright. That’s all we know. We hope it’s going to be a quick recovery.”

In addition to Barkov, the Panthers will also begin their quest for a third straight Stanley Cup without Matthew Tkachuk and Tomas Nosek. Tkachuk, who underwent surgery in August to repair a torn adductor muscle and sports hernia, is expected to be sidelined until sometime in December, while Nosek (lower body) is considered month-to-month.

But even with key pieces out of action, the Panthers are built to weather any storm.

“We have a lot of leaders in the room,” Lundell said. “It’s not going to be quiet.”

Stay tuned for more updates on Barkov’s status.