Florida Panthers
Nov 6, 2026 5:50 PM
Injured stars Aleksander Barkov and Brad Marchand join the Panthers’ road swing to accelerate their recoveries through morning skates as they target a late-year return to action.
The Florida Panthers are heading back on the road, and a couple of the team’s injured stars are coming along for the ride.
Forwards Sasha Barkov and Brad Marchand have both been out since the first week of the season after suffering separate but similar lower-body injuries.
They each resumed skating late last month and remain on track to return sometime in the next several weeks.
Whether that means mid-to-late November or early December remains to be seen, but all signs continue to point to both players being on schedule in terms of their respective recoveries.
Each were initially given timelines of six-to-eight weeks to return; for Barkov, he’s just over five weeks into that estimate while Marchand is around four and a half weeks into his recovery.
“Marchy’s injury was six-to-eight weeks,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said Friday. “Eight weeks would put him at December 6th, so he’s in that range. If he’s fresher, he’ll come back slightly before, and if’s he not, maybe after, but that was the window. Barky is a week earlier (for his) injury. He might be ahead of eight weeks, but it’s still six-to-eight weeks.”
Maurice also said that both players, after having returned to the ice last week, will be joining Florida on their upcoming road trip.
Neither Barkov or Marchand is expected to crack the lineup anytime soon, but it will allow them to continue skating with their peers and working with coaches and trainers while pushing toward an eventual return.
Thanks to Florida’s upcoming schedule, it’s going to be a couple weeks until the Panthers can hold a formal practice on an off day, so having them join the team’s only formal skates would indicate they are each progressing.
“We won’t practice again until the nineteenth of November, so they need to start getting into some morning skates for us,” said Maurice.
As for Florida’s upcoming schedule, they’ve got three road games to play over a four-day span, which on the surface does not sound particularly advantageous.
However, as Maurice explained, playing day games when on a back-to-back is something that works in a players favor over night games, in terms of recovery.
That, combined with how the Panthers have managed their minutes, has him feeling confident the team can find some success this weekend.
“When you’re playing night games, unless you’re in the New York area, you’re not getting to the hotel until two in the morning, and we do think that affects you,” said Maurice. “I’d take a back-to-back on the road in the afternoon all day long.”
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