- Aleksander Barkov spoke for the first time since his latest knee injury
- The Panthers captain also received the Key to the City of Boca Raton
- Read below for his comments and video from Thursday
Aleksander Barkov isn’t letting another knee injury get him down.
The Panthers captain spoke Thursday for the first time since going down in San Jose, and he sounded like a guy who got the news he was hoping for. Barkov was asked how he’s feeling a week removed from the injury.
“I feel good. I got good news,” Barkov said. “I’ll be back soon, as soon as possible. Obviously, it’s not the thing you want to have, especially after what I went through last year. But it is what it is.”
Watch Barkov talk about the injury:
Barkov went down in the second period of Florida’s Oct. 1 game against the Sharks, when his left leg gave out while he battled for a puck. He headed straight to the locker room and slammed his gloves on the way. The Panthers later announced he’d miss 6-8 weeks without needing surgery.
That was a massive relief. Barkov missed all of last season after reconstructive surgery on his right knee, and he was only two games into his comeback when this happened. He explained what went through his head in the moment.
“My first thought was, ‘Do I have to go through that again?’ I just started playing again, and this happens?” he said. “I walked back to the locker room. I hopped on the bike for a little bit. I felt that, ‘OK, it’s not great, but it’s not completely OK.’ So, that was like the first good news for me.”
He also apologized for the glove toss, and said his teammates joked he was taking his “annual vacation.”
Thursday’s comments came on a pretty big day off the ice. Boca Raton mayor Andy Thomson handed Barkov the Key to the City in a ceremony at Boca Ice, with roughly 200 people on hand. The Finnish center has called Boca home since Florida drafted him second overall in 2013.
Here’s the ceremony:
He wore a brace on his left knee but walked around without crutches. He said there’s no set timeline yet for getting back on skates, and he meets with the team’s physical therapists Friday to map out a plan.
Florida is also without Brad Marchand, who is out weeks, not months with his own leg injury. The Panthers could have both back in the lineup by the end of November.
