BOCA RATON — Aleksander Barkov is relieved.
Suffering another knee injury in the second game of the regular season, after missing the entire previous season, can be stressful and scary.
But when the Florida Panthers captain learned his latest injury would sideline him about two months, everything changed.
"It's not the thing you want to have, especially after what I went through last year," Barkov said. "I didn't know what to expect. But once I heard it was that, it was obviously great news. I feel good."
Barkov, 31, was walking freely as he arrived at Boca Ice on Oct. 8 where he received a Key to the City from Boca Raton mayor Andy Thomson. He walked into the facility holding his knee brace and put it on before the ceremony.
Barkov, a native of
Finland, has resided in Boca Raton since being drafted by the Panthers second overall in 2013.
"I have no intentions of ever leaving," he said during the ceremony.
Barkov's left knee buckled while battling for a puck in the corner during the second period of the Panthers' OT loss at San Jose last week.
The injury was not to the knee that required season-ending surgery a year ago after he tore the ACL and MCL in his right knee. That injury occurred on the first day of training camp and was an omen to a long, difficult season for a team that played in the previous three Stanley Cup Finals and had won the previous two.
The Panthers announced Oct. 6 Barkov's injury will not require surgery and he is expected to miss six to eight weeks, a timetable that has him out 20 to 25 games.
"At first, yeah, of course, I'm scared," he said. "But then I hear it's not that bad. I could be back soon. So that was relieving news a little bit."
Scared enough that when he left the ice, he angrily threw down his gloves as he headed to the locker room.
When told how Panthers fans immediately gasped at the visual, Barkov apologized.
"Sorry about that," he said.
"I felt something was wrong but I walked back to the locker room, I hopped on the bike for a little bit, I felt … 'okay, it's not great but it's not completely like it was a year ago,' " he said. "So that was like first good news for me and then life started getting better."
Barkov's update came the same day forward Brad Marchand was helped off the ice in Los Angeles after appearing to injure his left knee. Marchand went down, with his left leg getting caught underneath him as he crashed into the goal.
Marchand, 38, could not put any weight on his leg and was helped off the ice by Brady Tkachuk and Niko Mikkola. Marchand missed 30 games last season due to lingering lower-body issues. He had surgery in August for an unspecified injury.
The Panthers will play their first home game of the season Saturday, Oct. 10 against the Minnesota Wild knowing they have lost Barkov for about two months and likely will be without Marchand for some time.
Aleksander Barkov calls settling in Boca Raton 'life changing'
Barkov was handed the key to the city by Thompson in a ceremony at the ice facility where Barkov has skated many times. There were about 200 people in attendance.
He called his decision to chose Boca at his home "life changing."
"I never really dreamed about this," he said. "It's something you don't even dream about, but it's a really big honor. I'm very, very humbled.
"I love the city ever since my first day when I moved here. I never thought I'll want to leave from here. And this is a great place to live, a great place to stay, and a great place to play hockey."
Thomson explained how the gesture of receiving a key to a city harkens to when cities had gates and meant you would be able to come into the city whenever you wanted.
"We don't have gates like that anymore," he said. "But it means that Sasha is always welcomed here and we are proud that you call Boca Raton your home."
Tom D'Angelo is a senior sports columnist and reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at tdangelo@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Panthers Aleksander Barkov relieved over news about latest knee injury
