Colorado Avalanche: Importance of Gabriel Landeskog’s Fight

Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog got in a fight with Ryan Dzingel in Saturday night’s game. The fight shows Landeskog’s leadership abilities.

The Colorado Avalanche lost to the Ottawa Senators 4-2 on Saturday night. It didn’t really matter. The Senators are going into the playoffs. The Avalanche are going to finish last in the NHL by a decent margin. (At the time of writing, 15 points separated Colorado from the next lowest team, the Arizona Coyotes.)

In other words, the Avs vs. Sens game was a meaningless one. They’re all meaningless for Colorado. The most the Avalanche can hope to do standings-wise is play spoiler to playoff-bound teams.

Right now players have to find their own reason to push toward winning. Youngsters such as JT Compher are playing to make a case for themselves as NHL players. Others, such as Matt Nieto and Sven Andrighetto, are playing to earn contracts.

A lot of other players have to dig deep to find their motivation. There are players such as John Mitchell and Fedor Tyutin who know they’re not in the future plans of the Avalanche. And there are the core players who know they’re not really playing for anything.

Gabriel Landeskog falls into that last category. He’s got a contract through 2021. It’s true that he’s been at the center of trade rumors, but little he does in the final few weeks will change his fate there.

That’s what makes his fight in the Senators game so significant:

The fight came in the last five minutes of the third period with the Colorado Avalanche down 4-1. It was clear Colorado was going to lose the game — Ottawa had just scored four (until then) unanswered goals. The Senators were outshooting the Avs 2-1.

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And yet Gabriel Landeskog still had something in the tank — enough of something to actually drop the gloves and throw punches.

To me, this is a sign of his leadership. This is a player who’s saying quite clearly with his actions that he’s not packing it in. He’s not going to just spout the usual cliches about playing for the logo, pride and each other. He’s actually going to do it.

That’s called leading by example.

Gabriel Landeskog’s captaincy is a popular topic in Avs nation. And by popular I mean controversial. Some people think bestowing the captaincy on Gabe was a publicity stunt. (Until Connor McDavid was named captain this year, Landeskog held the record as the youngest player to be named an NHL captain.)

Some people think Gabe relies too much on some of the older players for leadership. Some believe he’s not critical enough in the locker room.

For me it’s more about the little things that show why Gabriel is a good captain. It’s his upbeat attitude in practices, even when the team is in the middle of a big losing skid.

Here’s an example of how he’s motivating fellow players:

It’s a little silly. However to me, that fist bump at the end says it all about how Landeskog uplifts his fellow players.

It’s the way he mentors the “youngsters” (though Landy himself is only 24). For example, after Mikko Rantanen scored his first career hat trick and earned first star of the night honors, Gabe reminded him to give credit to his linemates as well.

Indeed, rookie JT Compher recently remarked:

"“I’ve only been here less than two weeks, but [Landeskog] cares more than almost anyone I’ve ever played with.”"

It’s telling that he singles Gabriel out specifically.

And it’s the fight.

I was at the game on Saturday evening, and I can tell you that fight was the only thing that got the crowd into the game since the first period goal by Matt Nieto. We have so little to celebrate this year. Seeing our captain throw down, rather than throw in the towel, was something we could get behind.

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Gabriel Landeskog is our Colorado Avalanche captain. He’s the only captain I personally have regularly addressed as “Cap.” To me he’s a great leader.

Here’s to hoping we get to keep our Cap to next year.