There is no question that many people are rooting for Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog. Landeskog, who had not played hockey for 1,020 days, suited up for the Avalanche’s affiliate team, the Eagles, on Friday night. During his postgame interview, he asked how many minutes he ended up playing, with just under 15 minutes being the answer.
To be more specific, Landeskog played five shifts per period. As Evan Rawal of Colorado Hockey Now said, Landeskog’s workload was clearly a pitch count. However, to me, he made the very most of his opportunities. He almost scored, and was also in a scuffle. That is one of the things the Avalanche miss about their captain: Sticking up for your teammates. It’s awesome to see Landeskog do that for a new team to him.
Another cool thing that happened at the game was that some of Landeskog’s teammates showed up to his first game in three years. Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Devon Toews, Ross Colton (though he never played with Landeskog yet), Josh Manson, Andrew Cogliano, and general manager Chris MacFarland showed up to the game. Not that there was any doubt about it, but it’s another sign that Landeskog’s teammates are right there with him and are rooting for him.
There is a huge difference between rehabbing and playing a hockey game. One of those big differences is not being near your teammates—what you’re used to— more often than you get to be. That was one of the things Landeskog appeared to be struggling with. He wanted to be out there. He wanted to be around even at Ball Arena, though sometimes he felt the emotions and didn’t want to be there.
Landeskog will be welcomed back to Ball Arena once he is able to. I don’t, of course, want to jinx anything, but it just feels like it’s going to happen this postseason. Friday’s appearance with the Eagles was a tremendous step forward even though the AHL is a lot slower of a league. Some say Landeskog looked like a true NHLer in an AHL game. I want to take all of this with a grain of salt before jumping too far ahead, but it’s hard not to get emotional about where Landeskog is at now.
Though his rehab and whatnot is still a work in progress, he will be welcomed back with open arms, especially by his Avalanche teammates.