Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog, who has been dealing with knee problems for the last two years, has recently made a strong statement about his return to the NHL.
“It’s a matter of when, not if,” Landeskog told The Denver Post’s Corey Masisak on August 21, teasing an imminent comeback.
Though the exact return date remains unclear, with Landeskog himself unsure if it will be “Game 1, 10, or 20,” he remains determined to make his comeback at some point during the 2024-25 season. Landeskog last played in Game 6 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final, helping the Colorado Avalanche secure their third championship in franchise history. This victory was the Avalanche’s first Cup win since 2001 and a career highlight for the Swedish forward. However, since then, Landeskog’s career has faced significant challenges due to multiple surgeries, including arthroscopic knee surgery and a severe cartilage transplant, which have kept him out for the entire 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 anxious about, but really excited about as well. He hasn’t played for us in two years.”
Before his injury struggles, Landeskog was a crucial player for the Avalanche, recording 59 points in 51 regular-season games in 2021–22 and adding 22 points during the team’s Stanley Cup playoff run. In Landeskog’s absence, the Avalanche have leaned heavily on star forwards Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. MacKinnon discussed his teammate’s absence at the end of last season.
“He’s our captain. The year we won, he was an animal out there,” MacKinnon said in June. “I know he’s rehabbing and he’s got great people around him giving him good information. “Just hoping and praying that he comes back next season. We miss him on the ice, off the ice. It’s tough to win without a guy like that.”
Leave a Reply