Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog to play AHL game
The Colorado Avalanche captain will be in the lineup Friday with the team’s AHL affiliate, marking his first game in nearly three years.
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After a long road back from injury, Gabriel Landeskog will finally play a hockey game.
The Colorado Avalanche captain will be in the lineup Friday with the team’s AHL affiliate, marking his first game in nearly three years.
Landeskog was loaned to the Colorado Eagles on a conditioning assignment Wednesday.
A knee injury and subsequent surgeries have sidelined the 32-year-old since he helped the Avalanche win the Stanley Cup in 2022. If the conditioning assignment and additional practices go well, Landeskog could be activated for Game 1 of Colorado’s first-round playoff series.
The Avalanche will enter the post-season as no worse than the Central Division’s No. 3 seed.
Landeskog’s injury stems back to the 2020 bubble season when he was sliced above the knee by the skate of Cale Makar in a playoff game against Dallas. Landeskog eventually underwent a cartilage transplant procedure on May 10, 2023, and has been on long-term injured reserve since.
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The procedure was similar to the one performed on Chicago Bulls point guard Lonzo Ball in March 2023. Ball returned to the court for a pre-season game in October, which hinted at a possible timeline for Landeskog’s return.
Landeskog is in his 13th season as a captain, with only Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin serving as leaders of their current teams for a longer span. The second overall pick in 2011, Landeskog won the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie and was an NHL all-star in 2018-19.
Over his career, Landeskog has been nearly a point-a-game player in six playoff runs with the Avalanche. He has three more years left on his contract.
Should he return, Landeskog would have to get up to speed in a hurry — and under the pressure of playoff hockey. Landeskog has familiarity with Nathan MacKinnon, Makar and several other players. But there are quite a few new additions since he’s been away that he’s going to have to develop an on-ice bond with on the fly.
—With files from the Associated Press.
