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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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Maurice said that would not happen.<\/p>\n
The Panthers have nine games remaining in the regular season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think so. Not in this situation,\u2019\u2019 Maurice said when asked about Barkov before the Panthers lost 3-1 to the New York Rangers<\/a> on Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201cThey give you like a two-month window on these knee injuries. He will get inside that two-month window, but why would we? We\u2019ll take the whole two months before he plays a hockey game again.<\/p>\n \u201cWe wouldn\u2019t want to \u2026 if it\u2019s 6-8 [months] and we put him in at seven and something happens, that doesn\u2019t make much sense. We\u2019ll let him go straight through the entire rehab process.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Barkov was lost for the season after injuring his right knee on his first day of training camp.<\/p>\n During a drill, Barkov\u2019s knee buckled while driving the net against Niko Mikkola.<\/p>\n He had reconstructive surgery on his ACL and MCL the following day.<\/p>\n The timeline for a return was 7-9 months; Barkov just passed the six month mark.<\/p>\n Last month, general manager Bill Zito said he would love to have Barkov back.<\/p>\n \u201cThe sooner, the better, as far as I am concerned,\u2019\u2019 Zito said.<\/p>\n Only the decision of when Barkov could play again is up to team medical personnel.<\/p>\n \u201cThe medical diagnosis is pretty clear timing-wise,\u2019\u2019 Zito said. \u201cIt\u2019s one of those where it [may] look great, but you can\u2019t cheat the system on that one. \u2026 When the doctors say he\u2019s ready to play, he will be ready to play, I know that. Then he will play.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Florida had hoped Barkov would be cleared sometime in the playoffs if the Panthers had gotten far enough.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Barkov, by all appearances, will be 100 percent for the start of training camp in September.<\/p>\n