Dylan Larkin asked the Detroit Red Wings to trade him in the offseason and named three teams he would go to. On Thursday night, one of them watched its captain and No. 1 center go down with a knee injury.
Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov left the Panthers’ 4-3 overtime loss at San Jose in the second period after his left knee buckled along the boards. It was the second game of his season. Coach Paul Maurice told reporters afterward that the knee is a separate problem from the one that wiped out his 2025-26.
“It’s not related to his injury last year at all,” Maurice said. “We’ll have a good idea by tomorrow afternoon.”
Barkov tore the ACL and MCL in his right knee during training camp a year ago and missed the entire season. Without him, Florida missed the playoffs for the first time since 2018-19.
Dr. Harjas Grewal, who breaks down athlete injuries publicly, posted his read on X on Thursday night:
Inward stress to Barkov’s knee
Most likely this would result in a torn MCL (time off depends on grade, often grade 2 and 4-6 weeks out)
Torn ACL +/- meniscus is also possible
Hopefully MRI tomorrow is positive
Dylan Larkin Put Florida on His List First
Larkin asked Detroit for a trade during the offseason, and the Red Wings took the captaincy from him before camp opened. He also holds a full no-trade clause through the 2027-28 season, so no deal gets made without his sign-off.
The first list he handed the team had three names on it: Florida, Minnesota and Las Vegas. He has since stopped talking about it publicly. “I asked for a trade from the Detroit Red Wings as a captain and that has consequences,” he said in September, declining to say whether the request still stands.
The Cap Math Needs Barkov on Long-Term IR
Florida is projected roughly $871,000 over the cap with 21 active players, according to PuckPedia. Larkin carries an $8.7 million cap hit through 2030-31 on the eight-year, $69.6 million contract he signed in 2023. There is exactly one way those two numbers meet: Barkov landing on long-term injured reserve.
Florida has already shown it will take on a contract that size. The Panthers acquired Brady Tkachuk from the Ottawa Senators in the offseason for a package built on 2026 first-round picks, putting him in the same room as his brother Matthew.
Detroit has less reason to hurry than it looks. One NHL executive told Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli that the Red Wings sit only about $1.6 million above the salary-cap floor with Larkin on the books, which is part of why, as the executive put it, “paying him for now works for everyone.” Moving him does not buy Detroit flexibility it needs. It pushes the Red Wings toward the floor.
Larkin Is Not Playing This Weekend Either
Larkin will miss Detroit’s first two games with an upper-body injury he picked up in offseason training. “I got hurt in the gym working out, and I’m pushing to get healthy,” he said. Coach Todd McLellan is hoping for Game 3 against Ottawa on Tuesday.
That has not slowed anyone down. Pete Blackburn posted after Barkov went down, “If Barkov is actually hurt again it feels safe to assume Larkin is going to be a Panther by the end of the weekend.”
It is one post, and the MRI result is not public yet. Richard Knight already laid out a Boston package for Larkin on Oct. 1. The Florida version only exists if Barkov’s knee is bad enough to park him on LTIR, and nobody outside the Panthers’ medical room knows that yet.
