Florida Panthers’ captain Aleksander Barkov will miss next two games due to illness

The Florida Panthers will be without their captain as they travel to Western Canada.

According to George Richards of Florida Hockey Now, Aleksander Barkov will remain in Florida as the Panthers hit the road to play the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames.

Richards added that Barkov could join the Panthers later on their trip. They’re playing in Edmonton on Monday and Calgary on Tuesday and then head to Vancouver to play the Canucks, Seattle to play the Kraken, and Winnipeg to play the Jets before returning home on December 7.

Coming up in Barkov’s place will be Aleksi Heponiemi, the team’s second-round pick from the 2017 NHL Draft. Heponiemi has seven points through 16 games in the AHL this season and has four points over 17 games in the NHL in his career.

Barkov scored one goal and two assists in Florida’s win over the Boston Bruins back on Wednesday but didn’t suit up for the team’s following game on Saturday, which saw the Panthers blow a 3-0 lead and lose 5-4 in overtime to the St. Louis Blues.

Through 19 games this season, Barkov has five goals and 18 points and is logging an average of 22:42 per game for the Panthers.

Last season’s Presidents’ Trophy winners are off to a bit of a slow start to 2022-23. The Panthers own a 10-8-3 record thus far and currently don’t hold a playoff spot in the incredibly competitive Eastern Conference.