Will Panthers put Aleksander Barkov on season-ending IR? What Bill Zito said
The Florida Panthers’ playoff hopes for the 2025-26 season are all but dashed, with the team 10 points back of a playoff spot with 20 games left entering their Friday-night game at the Detroit Red Wings.
That leaves one big question left to be answered for Panthers president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Zito: Will Florida place captain Aleksander Barkov on season-ending long-term injured reserve, a move that would free up more than $6 million of cap space for the Panthers to use down the stretch of the regular season?
Barkov has not played all season, sidelined by a noncontact injury to the ACL and MCL in his right knee that took place within the first half hour of training camp practice on Sept. 25. He had surgery the next day. The projected timeline of recovery at that time was seven to nine months. That points to a late-April return on the early end of the timeline. The Panthers’ regular-season schedule ends April 15.
Zito on Friday said no decision has been made yet — and a decision doesn’t have to be made yet.
“I don’t know,” Zito said about a decision to medically declare Barkov out for the season. “He’s ready when he’s ready. I had always kind of thought it would be the first week of the playoffs, but that was sort of me making it up. They tell you the injury I think was eight months, and then do the math. It could be earlier or later. I just don’t know.”
While the Panthers would welcome a Barkov return — he is, after all, the team’s captain, their top-line center and a three-time Selke Trophy winner as the NHL’s top defensive forward — Zito also gave a reminder last week that Barkov’s “medical diagnosis is pretty clear timingwise,” which is why he’s not getting overly excited by watching Barkov go through individual drills. Barkov has been skating on his own for a little more than a month now.
“That’s one of those, ‘Oh, you look great,’ but you can’t cheat the system,” Zito said on Feb. 24. “There’s not a lot of hope involved [in an early return]. There’s a timeframe and I think you have to live with it. ... I don’t go down on a daily basis and ask. When it happens, it happens and I’ll react. When the doctors say he’s ready to play, he’ll be ready to play.”
Right now, $3.8 million of Barkov’s $10 average annual value is not counting toward the Panthers’ salary cap with him on long-term injured reserve.
If the Panthers ultimately decide Barkov won’t be cleared to play — that’s a decision that will ultimately come down to the team doctors, not Barkov, Zito or coach Paul Maurice — the move would free up the remaining $6.2 million to be used to keep the team cap compliant the rest of the way.
The primary usage of that money would go toward activating defenseman Seth Jones off long-term injured reserve, which would require $3.8 million — Florida only has about $600,000 in cap space right now.
Zito said he anticipates Jones playing “relatively soon” but didn’t have an exact timeline.
But the potential returns of Barkov and Jones aren’t the only players Florida has to manage from an injury front.
Zito said he will meet with the coaching staff and team doctors to determine how they move forward with players who have been fighting through injuries this season — veteran forward Brad Marchand is the most notable from that standpoint.
“Some of these guys are probably going to have to get some rest,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice told reporters in Detroit on Friday prior to their game against the Red Wings to cap their four-game road trip. “We don’t want to have an injury that’s been lagging for two months get worse in the last week and set a guy back two months in his rehab.”
That’s where the Panthers’ trade-deadline acquisition of Vinnie Hinostroza and waiver claim of Cole Reinhardt come into play.
Both are depth forwards who can fill in roles as Florida manages ice time for its veterans who have played a lot of hockey over the past three seasons to ensure there are minimal setbacks heading into the offseason.
“I don’t think we’re quitting on anything,” Zito said, “but we’re also realistic.”
This story was originally published March 6, 2026 at 4:31 PM.
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