Despite any sorts of rumours, chatter, or what have you, Colorado Avalanche captain winger Gabriel Landeskog has no intentions of retirement. Landeskog has not played the team won the Stanley Cup, missing two full seasons while recovering from a severe knee injury.
Where did this come from, you may ask. On a social media post recently, Landeskog replied to a comment that said, “Time to retire, Landy!” The captain replied, “Is it though?”
All indications are that Landeskog will return sometime during the 2024-25 season. As has been said many times across the Avalanche regarding Landeskog, it’s not a matter of if, but when.
Obviously, Landeskog’s presence on the ice is missed and it is very much needed, if all things go as planned and he can return as a star like he was before the injury. The great thing is that he is still very much involved with the team despite skating on his own. Unfortunately, he can’t be in the bench area during games, but he has made an appearance at games since his injury, which is amazing to see.
I understand people wanting the team to move on from Landeskog once and for all, given that the uncertainties of when he’ll be coming back into the fold still remain. However, it is a tremendous thing to see him shut down retirement talk. Surely, it would help the team’s cap situation so they can move forward with a healthy team, but this situation digs deeper than just that.
The team is missing stars such as Valeri Nichushkin, Arturri Lehkonen and Devon Toews right now. When they get healthy, they should be getting back to what their norm has been for the past several years—most of the time that Jared Bednar became the head coach.
We just need to let it all play out, and hopefully we get to see a healthy Colorado Avalanche team, for the most part, for a good portion of the 2024-25 season.