The 31-year-old captain was injured in a 4-3 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Oct. 1.
The Panthers announced Saturday that he was placed on long-term injured reserve and would see a doctor Monday.
Panthers coach Paul Maurice, speaking before the Panthers played the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday (10 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN+) announced the timeline and added that Barkov does not need surgery.
“He’s scheduled to be out 6-8 weeks, non-surgical rehab, and that’s our best window," Maurice said. "Could be a little less, could be a little more, but we think 6-8 is the right rehab time.”
Barkov went down awkwardly while battling for the puck in the right corner during a power play at 8:07 of the second period. After getting up, he immediately asked for the Zamboni doors to be opened and threw his gloves down while walking to the locker room.
The 31-year-old was playing just his second game this season after missing all of 2025-26 because of a right knee injury he sustained on the first day of training camp. He had surgery the day after the injury to repair his MCL and ACL.
Although Barkov was unavailable for Florida last season, he did play for Finland at the 2026 IIHF World Championship in Switzerland in May. He served as captain and had 11 points (three goals, eight assists) in 10 games helping his country win the gold medal.
"It was a difficult thing to go through last year," Maurice said. "We've been through it, so we'll just deal with it. We handle our day, there's no point in looking a week out. We had a good practice (Saturday)."
Barkov played 20:32 in the Panthers' season opener, a 1-0 overtime win at the Carolina Hurricanes on Sept. 29.
Selected by Florida with the No. 2 pick in the 2013 NHL Draft, Barkov has 782 points (286 goals, 496 assists) in 806 regular-season games. He also has 81 points (25 goals, 56 assists) in 94 Stanley Cup Playoff games, captaining Florida to back-to-back championships in 2024 and 2025.
He is a three-time winner of the Selke Trophy voted as the best defensive forward in the NHL (2020-21, 2023-24, 2024-25) and won the Lady Byng Trophy for sportsmanship and gentlemanly play in 2018-19.
"No one's going to be able replace Sasha Barkov, and I'm not trying to," center Lars Eller said. "I'm just trying to play to my own identity and complement my linemates and I'm playing with really good players no matter what, and I welcome that opportunity."
Florida did get forward Brad Marchand back Sunday after he had offseason surgery for a lower-body injury. Marchand scored the tying goal with 1:50 remaining in the third period against Anaheim. Defenseman Gustav Forsling (upper body) also returned after missing the game against the Sharks.
In addition to Barkov and Marchand last season, Panthers forwards Matthew Tkachuk, Anton Lundell, Reinhart and Jonah Gadjovich, and defensemen Seth Jones, Eetu Luostarinen and Dmitry Kulikov also missed significant time because of injuries.
Florida recalled forward Sam Lafferty and defenseman Alexander Petrovic from Charlotte of the American Hockey League on Saturday, but neither played Sunday.
"It feels completely different than last year at this time," Maurice said Saturday. "There's really good depth here now, so we've got NHL veteran players that can come in and help look forward."
NHL.com independent correspondents Dan Greenspan and Dan Arritt contributed to this report
