No one knows what happened.
Nothing sudden happened on the ice.
Yet Sasha Barkov remains sidelined with what is being deemed a "lower body injury" that no one saw.
In this game groin and other muscle pulls happen all the time. Perhaps it's something like that, but with as tight-lipped as the team has been about the injury it is cause for concern.
During the Dec. 28th game against the Leafs in Sunrise Barkov took a relatively soft shot of the lower right part of his back while he was in front of the net. Soon after that he left the game for good and hasn't returned since.
While he was seen smarting a bit after taking that shot, it could hardly have been considered serious to anyone watching live, especially when most hockey players play through injuries way more damaging.
In the days following it was said Barkov was 2-3 weeks out, which was good news considering Nick Bjugstad and Alex Petrovic were slated to come back around the same time, with Jonathan Huberdeau on the horizon.
Only Bjugstad is still on schedule.
GM and interim head coach Tom Rowe stated last week that Barkov was now out indefinitely and will be week to week moving forward. This is terrible news for a team desperately trying to get healthy as they tread water in the Atlantic division.
To make it worse, both Petrovic and Huberdeau had at least two weeks added to their initial expected return times, so the waiting game continues.
But the Barkov situation is quite troubling. He is unquestionably the best Florida player and one of the best two-way centers in the game...all at the ripe old age of 21.
It could be said as Barkov goes, the Panthers go. The fact they are over .500 with all the injuries they've suffered is amazing. Barkov missing extensive time may prove to be too much to overcome during the most important time of the season.
With Bjugstad, it was widely reported and discussed as a groin issue. With Huberdeau, it's clearly an Achilles injury. Petrovic, a broken ankle.
Barkov...who knows.
The quiet nature of the organization surrounding this is perplexing because if it wasn't serious, as they first assumed, a general area of the body and type of injury would be known.
The longer this goes, and the more Rowe and Co. don't want to discuss it, the more problematic it may become.
If the "lower body" diagnosis is accurate, then at least it's not a concussion. For a player who has already had concussion issues this is a blessing.
There were indications from Rowe that Barkov was battling something for a while before he was officially out so perhaps it is a knee issue of some kind.
Whatever it is, it has the feeling of something very concerning to the staff. It will be interesting to see how this unfolds.
There is potential for the Panthers to get a huge shot in the arm in February with some major contributors returning to the ice. But without Barkov success is going to be much harder to come by.
Dan Spiegel
Florida Panthers Media
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