Gabe Landeskog returns to Avalanche practice as optimism for Game 1 abounds
For so long, the idea of Gabe Landeskog playing hockey again seemed so far away.
Even just a few weeks ago, the odds that he might play at some point in this postseason were still long. Now, the entire situation has flipped and the progress is happening at warp speed.
Landeskog returned to the Colorado Avalanche for practice Tuesday, ending a successful conditioning assignment with the Colorado Eagles where he played back-to-back games and collected two points as well. Now, the countdown to the captain playing for the Avalanche again could be days — not weeks or months.
“Suddenly, over the last month, the progression has been quick,” Avs forward Logan O’Connor said. “It’s been awesome. The locker room has sensed it. It has happened really quickly recently, but then you think about the whole journey and it’s really been a long time coming.
“It’s definitely been a wild journey. We’ve played a lot of games without him. A lot of guys have come and gone that never got to play with him. As bad as it is to say, you almost got used to him being out at some point and stopped asking questions about how he was feeling or what things were looking like because you didn’t want to harass him about it.”
Landeskog went 1,020 days without playing because of issues with his right knee. He had several procedures, the most recent major one being knee cartilage replacement surgery in May 2023.
No player has returned to NHL action after having this procedure. Lonzo Ball had it done in March 2023 and returned this season for the Chicago Bulls in the NBA.
Landeskog participated in the club’s optional practice Tuesday. The Avs have a full practice Wednesday, then are taking Thursday off. Game 1 against the Dallas Stars is likely to be either Saturday or Sunday.
“No. 1, it is exciting that he is back and playing,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “I’m really happy for him. I know it’s been a long road. No. 2, it is exciting for us because it may give us another option here when we get to the weekend. We’ll see how it responds this week and see how it goes.”
Avs defenseman Erik Johnson said, “it looks like we are going to have him around for Game 1” when he appeared on a Spittin’ Chiclets podcast episode that published late Monday night. When Devon Toews was asked if Landeskog will play in Game 1 on Altitude radio Tuesday afternoon, he replied, “tune in and find out.”
Toews was among several Avs players who went up to Loveland to see Landeskog play in the first AHL game of his career Friday night. He played nearly 15 minutes the first night, then looked even better on Saturday, collecting a goal and an assist.
“It was awesome. I didn’t know what to expect, but I thought every shift out there he looked better,” Avs center Nathan MacKinnon said. “In game two, he looked better as well. He almost played 20 minutes or something like that. He’s in a good spot. Hopefully he can keep progressing and we’ll have back here this weekend.”
For so long, there were vague timelines for Landeskog on his road to recovery. Then, as the process dragged on there were no timelines at all.
Now? All signs point to him playing this weekend, assuming his knee has no issues through the next few days.
“He’s Gabe Landeskog at the end of the day,” MacKinnon said. “Obviously there’s going to be some rust. Three years is a crazy amount of time off, and he hasn’t been practicing that much either. … I think he looks great. In game situations, you can still see those instincts are there. He’s still got it for sure.”
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