Aleksander Barkov's knee injury could keep him out 10 to 12 weeks, a timeline that shoves the Florida Panthers into a very different season.
Armando Velez reported the 10-to-12-week range Monday morning. He added that it would put the return somewhere around Christmas or New Year's.
"Just been told that Aleksander Barkov's injury will sideline him in the range of 10-12 weeks.
That timeline would have him returning around Christmas/New Years."
The first word on the knee was far softer. Florida had him on injured reserve, expected out until at least Oct. 27.
Now that date looks like wishful thinking.
Count it out on the calendar. Florida plays 34 games before its Dec. 26 home date against Tampa Bay, and the Finn misses every one of them if this timeline holds.
The 31-year-old dressed for two of the first three games and didn't register a point. He did not dress Sunday night in Anaheim, where the Ducks took it 3-2 in overtime.
Every Anaheim goal came on the power play. Cutter Gauthier scored twice with the man advantage, and Mikael Granlund ended it in overtime on another one.
Anton Lundell and Sam Reinhart inherit Florida's toughest minutes
Paul Maurice now has to fill a hole down the middle with an offense already running on fumes. Florida has scored six goals in three games.
Lundell is the obvious candidate to slide up. He logged 17:33 Sunday and has one assist through three games.
Reinhart is the bigger worry. He's still looking for his first point of the season despite 22:19 of ice time against the Ducks.
Three games is a small sample. But the runway for patience just got shorter by about three months.
Matthew Tkachuk has two points and led all Florida forwards at 23:28 Sunday. Expect that number to climb.
Seth Jones already ate 28:35 on the back end. Leaning that hard on the same legs during a season-opening road trip is how October fatigue turns into November problems.
Losing him now is like a restaurant losing its head chef the same week the kitchen burned the soup. Same menu, worse food, and nobody in the dining room is fooled.
There's also a $10,000,000 cap hit now parked on the sidelines. That gives Bill Zito a real decision to make, and fast.
Standing pat would be a mistake. A team with a -1 goal differential and a two-game skid can't bank on overtime points carrying it to Christmas.
Next stop is Los Angeles on Tuesday, against a Kings team that has allowed 13 goals in two games. If Florida can't get healthy against that defense, what exactly is the plan?
And if the holiday timeline slips even a week, Zito's patience gets tested in a way nobody in that locker room wants to see.
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