One by one, every other player who was in the Colorado Avalanche lineup Tuesday night filed into the locker room, undressed from the club’s morning skate and left.
Some of Gabe Landeskog‘s teammates were likely done with a post-skate workout, showered and headed for I-25 by the time the captain decided he’d call it a morning and head for the dressing room as well. When the Avalanche captain was physically unable to play because of a troublesome knee, he reminisced about the little things he was missing out on.
Now that he has a chance to truly be part of the team again, being one of the last regulars off the ice after a morning skate has become a regular occurrence.
“I truly just love it, and kind of the puzzle solving of your season and your performance and your team’s performance,” Landeskog said ahead of a game Tuesday night against the league-leading New Jersey Devils. “It’s like, ‘What needs work? What do you need to improve on? What can kind of put some pieces of confidence in your backpack?’
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“You’re out there working on your shot, or you’re working on different things. Truly, I missed it, and that’s why I don’t want to miss anymore.”
Landeskog is 10 regular-season games into his comeback, which began with the final five contests of the Avalanche’s first-round series last year against the Dallas Stars. His play in the 2025 playoffs was astounding.
He wasn’t just back on the ice in the NHL for the first time in more than 1,000 days. Landeskog earned a promotion after the first game. He scored in his second one. For five games, he was one of the best players on the ice.
For much of the previous two seasons, the discussion around Landeskog centered on whether he’d ever play again, and, if so, if he could even be effective after so much time away. His play against the Stars reset that conversation.
His first 10 games back this year have been a bit of a mixed bag.
“It hasn’t been nearly as good as the team has played, I think,” Landeskog said. “But at the same time, I try to kind of temper my expectations and try to just really understand what an awesome opportunity I have in front of me every single night. Sometimes it’s easy to get frustrated because you expect so much of yourself, but I think for me, I’m just really thankful and happy to be in this position and just have this opportunity to continue to get better.”
Landeskog has zero goals and two points through 10 games. He did score a goal against Utah, but it was taken off the board for an offside call the Avalanche vehemently disagreed with.
Colorado has generated 58.57% of the expected goals when Landeskog is on the ice at 5-on-5. That places him ninth on the team and sixth among the forwards. He’s averaging 14:27 of ice time, which is nearly six minutes fewer than his last regular season (2021-22). A big part of that is being on the second power-play unit, and only 28 seconds of penalty-killing time.
“The production is what it is,” Landeskog said. “Would I like to score more and produce more? Yeah, for sure, but at the same time, I want to be playing my best hockey come the most important time of the year, and that’s not right now. So for me, having missed so much time, just try to get better, and try to improve and help this team win in any way I possibly can. For me, that’s about working hard. I think it’s only going to get better, I hope, in terms of production.”
Landeskog’s availability has certainly been a positive. He has skipped a couple of practices, but he’s played in every game and hasn’t had any issues beyond rust.
Coach Jared Bednar bumped him to the third line Sunday in New Jersey, replacing him first with Victor Olofsson and then Ross Colton. Landeskog had a solid game against the Devils, and Colton earned at least another game on the second line.
“I think it’s perfectly normal for him to be where he is right now, and I think it’s a matter of time,” Bednar said. “He missed three years of hockey, right? So there’s some things in his game that he’s doing right now that I love. I love his play underneath the hash marks, and his o-zone play getting to the net front. He’s got a heaviness to him, and a determination in his game that’s been really consistent this year.
“I think the pace and some of the more sort of skilled puck play will come with time. That’s what I believe. He’s got to keep working at it and stay with it. And I think the more he’s on the ice, and the more games we play, the better he’s going to get.”
Footnote: Goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood is expected to dress against the Devils and back up Scott Wedgewood. Trent Miner, who had been serving as the backup while Blackwood recovered from an offseason injury, was placed on waivers Tuesday afternoon. If he clears Wednesday afternoon, he’ll return to the Colorado Eagles.
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