{"id":470952,"date":"2026-02-25T09:16:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T09:16:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/470952\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T09:16:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T09:16:21","slug":"panthers-aleksander-barkov-has-hospital-program-named-for-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/470952\/","title":{"rendered":"Panthers’ Aleksander Barkov has hospital program named for him"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOLLYWOOD \u2014 When the Florida Panthers drafted Aleksander Barkov in 2013, the team was mired in mediocrity, and star players tended not to stick around for long.<\/p>\n

Thirteen years later, the Finland native is the team captain, a two-time Stanley Cup champion<\/a> and an embraced South Floridian. His commitment to the local community showed Tuesday, as he gave a large donation to Hollywood\u2019s Joe DiMaggio Children\u2019s Hospital. The hospital, in turn, named its sports medicine program after him: Barkov Sports Medicine at Joe DiMaggio Children\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is more than a dream to be able to be in some part of this great, great place,\u201d Barkov said during a ceremony at the hospital on Tuesday. \u201cObviously, the years that I\u2019ve been here working with Joe DiMaggio has been amazing, but this is (the) next step that I never even dreamed about. \u2026 So I\u2019m very honored. Just very thankful and very happy to be doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barkov added: \u201cThis place is my home now. Like I said in the speech that (I) was drafted here in 2013, and if you would have told me 13 years later this will happen here, I would have probably never believed. So very, very happy, very thankful, very honored that this happened. And I\u2019m looking forward to seeing where this takes us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barkov has been donating to the hospital since 2019. Now he donates $1,600 to the hospital for every goal he scores and $800 for every assist he records. He had donated more than $420,000 since 2019,<\/a> according to the Panthers, and his latest donation is over $1 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world knows Sasha as an elite athlete, and here at Joe DiMaggio, we know him differently,\u201d said Kelley Morris, the president of the Joe DiMaggio Children\u2019s Hospital and Memorial Foundations. \u201cWe know him for his heart and we are incredibly grateful. \u2026 The Joe DiMaggio Children\u2019s Hospital Foundation is incredibly grateful to Sasha for his generosity and we will proudly add his name, Barkov Sports Medicine, to our U-18 program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barkov said his own injury \u2014 a\u00a0knee injury that has kept him off the ice all season<\/a> \u2014 helped inspire him to keep supporting the hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew (I was) going to be out for a while, so I couldn\u2019t score any goals or assists,\u201d Barkov said.<\/p>\n

Barkov has been steadily working his way back from his injury. He skated before the team\u2019s practice on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really happy where I am right now. I know the schedule,\u201d Barkov said. \u201cI know I\u2019m in good hands. \u2026 We have great people working for the Panthers \u2014 surgeons and physical therapists and doctors. So trust them, and they will always make the right decision. And I know hopefully, very soon, I\u2019ll be back with the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barkov said watching his teammates go to Italy and play in the Olympics was tough. The Panthers captain would have played for his native Finland if not for the knee injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole season, it\u2019s been fine. And then when you see that \u2026 some guys are skating in Olympic gear already in the practice, and where\u2019s mine? I don\u2019t have it,\u201d Barkov said. \u201cThem leaving there was kind of where it really hit me, that I\u2019m going to miss Olympics. Then obviously, like, Olympic opening ceremony, that was pretty cool to watch. And I was just hoping that maybe, hopefully, one day again I\u2019ll get a chance. But then, watching games, it was just \u2026 so high level that it was fun to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Panthers\u2019 season restarts on Thursday with a crucial game against the Toronto Maple Leafs in Sunrise. Florida is currently far out of the playoff picture, eight points behind the second wild card, the Boston Bruins.<\/p>\n

Panthers general manager Bill Zito said Tuesday that the star center is on schedule but could not pinpoint when \u2014 or if \u2014 Barkov could return this season. But if Florida could get him back, he would be a massive addition.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if you just take the emotional part out of that question \u2014 and that part is huge \u2014 I can make an argument that Barkov\u2019s the best player in the world,\u201d Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. \u201cYou may not agree with it. There are other guys who get more points. But he\u2019s won three Selkes, two Stanley Cups. He\u2019s a pretty good player. So just on that alone, on athlete alone, we\u2019d be a little better team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FloridaFlorida Panthers Captain Aleksander \u201cSasha\u201d Barkov, a longtime supporter of Joe DiMaggio Children\u2019s Hospital, signs an autograph for David Goodis,14, of Parkland , during a special party for pediatric patients and their families at Joe DiMaggio Children\u2019s Hospital in Hollywood on Tuesday, February 24, 2026. (Carline Jean\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOLLYWOOD \u2014 When the Florida Panthers drafted Aleksander Barkov in 2013, the team was mired in mediocrity, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":470953,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5102],"tags":[91,62,57,5141,5,12165,4,63],"class_list":{"0":"post-470952","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida-panthers","8":"tag-aleksander-barkov","9":"tag-florida","10":"tag-florida-panthers","11":"tag-floridapanthers","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-joe-dimaggio-childrens-hospital","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-panthers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116130519199973851","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}