The final time Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog appeared in an NHL recreation was the crew’s Stanley Cup-clinching win on the finish of the 2021-22 season. Since then, he has missed three full seasons value of video games on account of knee points that put his taking part in profession in jeopardy.
Now he may very nicely be an choice for the Avalanche once they open their 2025 Stanley Cup Playoff run towards the Dallas Stars.
After taking part in in a two-game rehab stint with the Avalanche’s AHL crew this previous week, he has been added to Colorado’s roster and might be an choice for the playoffs.
It has been greater than 1,020 days since he final performed in an NHL recreation.
He has undergone a number of knee surgical procedures, including a ligament replacement surgery in 2023 that no NHL participant has ever returned from.
In his 11 seasons with the Avalanche, Landeskog has scored 248 objectives with 571 complete factors, whereas additionally serving to the crew win a championship in 2022.
Now that he’s again on the roster, there are two large questions but to be answered.
The primary one is straightforward: Will he really play?
Simply because he’s on the roster doesn’t imply he’s going to be instantly put again into the lineup. Regardless of how good Landeskog has been all through his profession, solely taking part in two minor-league video games in three years and being 32 years outdated coming off a collection of main knee points goes to be a giant collection of obstacles to beat.
Colorado considerably boosted its depth on the NHL commerce deadline and is 19-8-2 because the begin of February. It’s already a very good crew that has rather a lot going for it.
The second query: If he does play, how efficient will he really be?
You must think about conditioning and getting again as much as NHL recreation velocity shall be a problem, particularly for the playoffs, when the sport picks up much more.
When Landeskog was at his peak, and even throughout his most up-to-date NHL taking part in days, he was a top-line participant and one of many Avalanche’s go-to choices. Realistically talking, he would in all probability solely be extra of a depth piece or complementary participant at this level.
Even that would make a big effect for the Avalanche, whereas additionally offering an enormous emotional increase to a contender to see its captain work his approach again. The Avalanche haven’t received a playoff collection since Landeskog was injured.
