The Panthers captain celebrated his return to the lineup after missing eight games with a lower-body injury by scoring his first goal of the season and adding an assist in a 5-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Monday night. Just as exciting for Barkov was the opportunity to join the Panthers as they jet off to Finland, where the Stanley Cup champions will play a two-game series against Dallas this weekend in the captain’s hometown of Tampere.
“I’m not looking forward to the flight, but yeah, I mean, we’re going to the great place,” Barkov said of the 9-hour flight. “It’s going to be a one-of-a-kind experience for sure.”
And whatever fears — if any — Barkov had of the injury preventing him from making the trip have been forgotten.
“I feel like it was so long ago,” he said of getting hurt in the final minute of a 3-1 loss at Ottawa on Oct. 10, when he crashed into the end boards after attempting to prevent Tim Stutzle from scoring an empty-net goal.
“It didn’t feel good. But then literally, like in the next 30 minutes, I started feeling better,” said Barkov, who began skating a week later. “So I was confident about coming back as soon as possible.”
Though the Panthers went 5-2-1 in Barkov’s absence, they were pleased to welcome back their top-line center, who is regarded as one of the NHL’s top two-way forwards.
“He’s probably the best player in the world, so of course it’s huge for this team,” Jesper Boqvist said. “You saw it tonight. It’s so fun watching him every day.”
After Boqvist opened the scoring 11:01 into the first period, Barkov attracted two defenders while driving behind the Sabres’ net before setting up Sam Reinhart for an easy tap-in 55 seconds later. Barkov then capped the scoring by driving the right circle and snapping a shot inside the far post with 4:17 left.
He finished with 19 1/2 minutes of ice time, including shifts on the power-play and penalty-killing units. The only scare came with about a minute left in the first period when Barkov appeared to be in pain on the bench after getting tangled up with Sabres defenseman Owen Power.
“No, I was OK. I don’t even remember that,” Barkov said.
Barkov’s return had a ripple effect, providing balance across the Panthers’ lineup. Sam Bennett resumed his role centering the second line, with Anton Lundell centering the third unit.
“It just changes so many things, the impact when he’s on the ice,” coach Paul Maurice said. “There’s a lot of responsibility that Barky takes on seamlessly every night, but it changes our matchup, too, even on the road, so it makes running the bench quite a bit easier.”
Barkov’s return followed that of forward Matthew Tkachuk, who played his fourth game after missing five with an illness. The only key regular the Panthers are missing is forward Tomas Nosek, who remains sidelined by an upper-body injury sustained in a preseason game last month.
The days leading up to the 2025 NHL trade deadline were a furious final sprint as contenders looked to stock up for a postseason run while rebuilding clubs added prospects and draft capital.
After the overnight Brock Nelson blockbuster Thursday, Friday lived up to expectations, with Mikko Rantanen, Brad Marchand and other high-profile players finishing the day on different teams than they started with. All told, NHL teams made 24 trades on deadline day involving 47 players.
Which teams and players won the day? Who might not feel as well about the situation after trade season? Reporters Ryan S. Clark, Kristen Shilton and Greg Wyshynski identify the biggest winners and losers of the 2025 NHL trade deadline:
There are some who saw what the Carolina Hurricanes did at the trade deadline — or perhaps failed to do after they traded Mikko Rantanen — and believe they’re cooked when it comes to the Stanley Cup playoffs. However, based on the projections from Stathletes, the Canes remain the team with the highest chances of winning the Cup, at 16.7%.
Standing before them on Sunday are the Winnipeg Jets (5 p.m. ET, ESPN+). The Jets had a relatively quiet deadline, adding Luke Schenn and Brandon Tanev, though sometimes these additions are the types of small tweaks that can push a contender over the edge. As it stands, the Jets enter their showdown against the Canes with the sixth-highest Cup chances, at 8.7%.
Carolina has made two trips to the Cup Final: a loss to the Detroit Red Wings in 2002 and a win over the Edmonton Oilers in 2006. The Canes have reached the conference finals three times since (2009, 2019, 2023). Winnipeg has yet to make the Cup Final, and was defeated 4-1 in the 2018 Western Conference finals by the Vegas Golden Knights in the club’s lone trip to the penultimate stage.
Both clubs are due. Will this be their year?
There is a lot of runway left until the final day of the season on April 17, and we’ll help you keep track of it all here on the NHL playoff watch. As we traverse the final stretch, we’ll provide detail on all the playoff races — along with the teams jockeying for position in the 2025 NHL draft lottery.
Points: 43 Regulation wins: 12 Playoff position: N/A Games left: 17 Points pace: 54.3 Next game: vs. NSH (Tuesday) Playoff chances: ~0% Tragic number: 8
Race for the No. 1 pick
The NHL uses a draft lottery to determine the order of the first round, so the team that finishes in last place is not guaranteed the No. 1 selection. As of 2021, a team can move up a maximum of 10 spots if it wins the lottery, so only 11 teams are eligible for the draw for the No. 1 pick. Full details on the process can be found here. Sitting No. 1 on the draft board for this summer is Matthew Schaefer, a defenseman for the OHL’s Erie Otters.
Hintz extended his stick toward Henrique, whose wrist shot sent the puck under Hintz’s visor during his club’s 5-4 loss to the Oilers. He was on the ice, with his face in a towel, as the team’s medical staff assessed him and helped him skate toward the dressing room.
After the loss, Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said Hintz was at a local hospital, receiving tests. The coach added that the initial report was fairly optimistic for Hintz, 28, who has 25 goals and 52 points.
“Everyone’s optimistic that it’s not ‘serious, serious,'” DeBoer said. “But we won’t know until we get testing.”
The short-handed Stars rallied from a 5-1 deficit before eventually losing. Trade deadline acquisition Mikko Rantanen had a goal and an assist in his debut for Dallas, which had its four-game winning streak stopped. Wyatt Johnston, Jamie Benn and Matt Dumba also scored for the Stars.