Star forward out several weeks after being injured by his own teammate.

On Thursday reports began to surface suggesting that the injury to Florida Panthers center Aleksander Barkov was considerably more serious than originally had been reported, and on Friday we received confirmation of that fact.

Sportsnet hockey insider Elliotte Friedman is now reporting that the Panthers have placed Barkov on injured reserve, indicating that he will be out for at least the new few games. Friedman reports that the timeline is expected to be three to four weeks.

Barkov was injured when he was struck by a shot from one of his own teammates during the Wednesday night match up between the Panthers and the Toronto Maple Leafs. He is widely regarded as one of the best player's on the Panthers squad with his teammates describing his absence from the line up similarf to the Penguins losing Sidney Crosby to injury.

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