Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog has been dealing with knee problems for the past two years, but the 31-year-old has finally made a dramatic announcement regarding his return to the NHL. “It’s a matter of when, not if,” Landeskog told The Denver Post’s Corey Masisak on August 21, hinting to an impending comeback.
While the exact timeframe is unknown, with Landeskog himself wondering if it will be “Game 1 or 10 or 20,” he appeared determined to return to the rink at some point during the 2024-25 season.
Landeskog last appeared in Game 6 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning, where he helped Colorado win the chalice for the third time in franchise history. That game was the Avalanche’s first Stanley Cup title since 2001, as well as the Swedish forward’s career high. Landeskog’s career has now taken a turn for the worst, with him undergoing many surgeries, including arthroscopic knee surgery and a more severe cartilage transplant, which will keep him out for the whole 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons.
“He’s trying to make a return here sometime near the start of the season, and if that goes well, it would be a really big boost for us,” Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar told NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti on August 22. “So that’s something we’re all a little nervous about, but also really enthusiastic about. “He has not played for us in two years.” Prior to his injury problems, Landeskog was an important player of the Avs, scoring 59 points in 51 regular-season games in 2021-22 and another 22 points during the team’s playoff run to the Stanley Cup.
With Landeskog out, the Avalanche have depended heavily on other top players Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. The former discussed his teammate’s absence at the close of last season.
“He is our captain.” “The year we won, he was an animal out there,” MacKinnon remarked in June. “I know he’s recuperating, and he’s got excellent people around him providing him good information. I’m just hoping and praying that he returns next season. We miss him on and off the rink. It’s difficult to win without a player like that.”