What a Gabriel Landeskog return could mean for the Avalanche
Gabriel Landeskog is determined to make a return.
Sidelined since hoisting the Stanley Cup in 2022, the longtime Colorado Avalanche captain was back skating with the squad Monday ahead of its three-game road trip that begins Wednesday in Toronto.
On Tuesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Carter Hutton and Tyler Yaremchuk discussed what a Landeskog return could mean for the Avalanche as the club sets its sights on its fourth-ever Stanley Cup championship.
Tyler Yaremchuk: It was all eyes on Colorado yesterday with Landeskog skating once again and practicing pretty intensely with his teammates. It has people wondering if he is pushing to make a return this season. Where my head goes is a couple of months ago when we heard about the Jonathan Toews [return] and if he could make a comeback and how ready he could be. Everyone was like, ‘What could you expect Toews to do after two years out of the league?’ Toews has played NHL games more recently than Landeskog. Again, he was great before he got hurt. But I am sitting here going, ‘How can a guy just jump right into the playoffs after 996 days since his last NHL game?’
Carter Hutton: It has been going on three years here. It’s tough. And when you put it into that perspective, it doesn’t feel like that long ago. It feels like just yesterday. I feel like we have gone through this so many times now with him where he has come back and he has had a little stint. What I need to see before I can really move forward on this and have any confidence is that he needs to do it for a sustained amount of time. It has to be a few weeks. Anyone can get out there and play. It’s hard enough to play in the NHL as is, with a healthy body and the wear and tear of a game. And now you start getting physical play involved. Someone is hitting you and you’re engaging in that, where I don’t think he has got to that level yet. I think you’re going to need two, three weeks, a month of some solid skating, consistently, where you can see him all the time and start to grasp at that. Until then, I still think I am aware of the fact that he’s a leader and they want him around the team. You have a team that is set to make a deep playoff run and having Landeskog around your team on the road, being part of it, is important, just as he is on the ice as he is off the ice. So until he can sustain practicing and battle drills, I am a little bit worried about him.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here: