Avalanche captain forward Gabriel Landeskog made a remarkable recovery from a knee injury that kept him out for three seasons. His first regular season back was this past year and he played in 60 games, recording 14 goals and 21 assists.
Any return to action after a three-year recovery period is outstanding. The odds were once against him. Now, since he has proven that he is back, the pressure he might feel should only increase. That’s not a bad thing.
As a top-six forward, fans wanted Landeskog to put up more points than he did. It’s fair given that he looked good this year. There are no complaints coming from me about the team’s overall season. How could there be? They won the Presidents’ trophy as the winngest team. It was a near-perfect regular season.
But it could have been even better. Landeskog did miss 22 games throughout the regular season due to various injuries. If he can stay healthy at 34-years-old, it would only help his case as a player who can have a much bigger impact on his team than he did last year
Age and experience will come in handy for Gabriel Landeskog
While they are different players, Brock Nelson has proven that just because you’re an older player, it doesn’t mean there will automatically be a decline in play. Nelson put up 33 goals and 32 assists for 65 points at 33-34 years old. I have a lot of confidence that Landeskog can do the same.
Landeskog averaged 16:25 of ice time per game last season. That is by far the lowest of his career, but given that he missed the past three years, it made sense. It also helped that the team won 67% of their games (55-16-11). There was less pressure on Landeskog to be his old self because other players were stepping up enough.
Landeskog’s role should only increase as time goes on, especially given the departure of Valeri Nichushkin, who was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets this offseason. His leadership ability will also be of the utmost importance because of the new blood that is now in the organization.
So, the point is that while you can look at his point totals, leadership won’t be shown on the stat sheet. But I think that if either of those things improve in 2026-27, it could create a domino effect for himself as well as his teammates.
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