After a long road back from injury, Gabriel Landeskog will finally play a hockey game.
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.
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.
