The Colorado Avalanche are still the best team in the league right now. They’ve got the best defenseman in the world leading the league in points (yes, even compared to forwards), with 29. He has nine goals and 20 assists. That being said, the true MVP of the team is the Captain himself, Gabriel Landeskog.
Landeskog spent three full seasons rehabbing his tragic knee injury that required cartilege replacement as part of several surgeries to get him right. The issues started a little bit prior to the team’s Stanley Cup win against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
When Landeskog is on the ice, the Avalanche’s overall record is 394-285-81. Comparatively, when he misses time, the team is 199-114-25.
Landeskog has had several goals taken off the board due to offsides penalties, though he did officially record his first goal since the 2021-22 season, on November 11, against the Anaheim Ducks, and then followed that up with another goal the following day against the Buffalo Sabres.
I know what you are thinking: Those aren’t MVP-type number even for a single team. You are right. However, it’s how the team plays when he’s on the ice that matters at least for the sake of this argument.
We’ve witnessed a Landeskog-less Avalanche team for the past three seasons. There’s only so much that he can do while meeting the team in the locker room whenever he was able to stick around or head to the rink in between rehabbing his knee or spending time outside of hockey altogether. Without Landeskog on the ice, it had been very up and down.
Guys such as Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, and Devon Toews likely had to take on a bigger leadership role than what they were used to. I’m not taking anything away from their skills as a leader because I simply am not in that locker room, but there is a reason why Landeskog was named as the youngest captain in NHL history when he was.
The Avalanche are lighting it up despite having several new faces on game days
Sure, there are still some rough games here and there, but you have to commend this team for not giving up. They have the best record in the league and everybody is ranking them as the top team in their power rankings. Even with 56 games with Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood last season, those results didn’t quite feel like the results of 2025-26. We’re on a very positive path this year, even when the team feels sluggish.
I’ve got to think that Landeskog is a huge part of that. As a leader, he know exactly what to say and how to present himself on the ice. If the team needs a little bit of a wakeup call, he’ll do something to get that going. If an opposing team is “harrassing” a member of the Avs, Landeskog is there to back up his teammates.
I do want to give a hat tip to Daily Faceoff for the initial idea about Landeskog as the Avs’ MVP. They bring up some great points, especially the off-the-ice mentallity of the team since Landeskog has been back. Confidence goes a long way, and that is exactly what this team has right now. Nobody knows how the rest of the season is going to go, but I would be surprised if the Avs start to go downhill this early in the season. They’re on a roll and Landeskog is a huge reason for that.