Florida Panthers captain Sasha Barkov has been skating since January and practicing with the team for the past few weeks, but Sunday, coach Paul Maurice said that will be the extent of his season.

Some had wondered, since Barkov appears to be fully participating in practices, that he may try and play in a few games before the season ended.

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Maurice said that would not happen.

The Panthers have nine games remaining in the regular season.

“I don’t think so. Not in this situation,’’ Maurice said when asked about Barkov before the Panthers lost 3-1 to the New York Rangers on Sunday.

“They give you like a two-month window on these knee injuries. He will get inside that two-month window, but why would we? We’ll take the whole two months before he plays a hockey game again.

“We wouldn’t want to … if it’s 6-8 [months] and we put him in at seven and something happens, that doesn’t make much sense. We’ll let him go straight through the entire rehab process.”

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Barkov was lost for the season after injuring his right knee on his first day of training camp.

During a drill, Barkov’s knee buckled while driving the net against Niko Mikkola.

He had reconstructive surgery on his ACL and MCL the following day.

The timeline for a return was 7-9 months; Barkov just passed the six month mark.

Last month, general manager Bill Zito said he would love to have Barkov back.

“The sooner, the better, as far as I am concerned,’’ Zito said.

Only the decision of when Barkov could play again is up to team medical personnel.

“The medical diagnosis is pretty clear timing-wise,’’ Zito said. “It’s one of those where it [may] look great, but you can’t cheat the system on that one. … When the doctors say he’s ready to play, he will be ready to play, I know that. Then he will play.’’

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Florida had hoped Barkov would be cleared sometime in the playoffs if the Panthers had gotten far enough.

Since the team will not be in the postseason, there really is no reason to risk injury in these final weeks of the regular season.

Barkov, by all appearances, will be 100 percent for the start of training camp in September.

“It has been tough,’’ Barkov said in February, “but when something tough or bad happens, you try and find the positives. I don’t know. Maybe taking a long time off here will help me in the future to come back fresher, with a fresh mind, a fresh body.

“Hopefully my career will last longer. I don’t know. But these are the kind of things you think about when you go through tough moments, face adversity.’’

ON DECK: GAME No. 74OTTAWA SENATORS at FLORIDA PANTHERS 

Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise 

Radio: WQAM; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM

Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App

Last Season: Senators won 2-1

Up Next for the Panthers: Thursday vs. Boston Bruins, 7

This article: Paul Maurice: Sasha Barkov Will Not Play for the Panthers This Season originally appeared on Florida Hockey Now.