Indications are that the Colorado Avalanche will not be seeing Gabriel Landeskog in game action during the 2023-24 Stanley Cup playoffs. Despite many hopes and dreams of him suiting up for the team in the next month, odds appear to be strongly against him.
Friday marked the one-year anniversary of Landeskog’s latest surgery on his knee, which he injured during the Stanley Cup playoffs against the Tampa Bay Lightning. He had knee cartilage replacement, which is a very unique situation. Landeskog has been participating in light drills for a little while now. While fans had hoped that he would return this year, I don’t know if the team and him ever expected it to actually happen.
It could have been a “keep ‘em guessing” situation, or it could have been a “never say never” situation. That being said, putting him out on the ice for the first time in two years—in a playoff game—just feels like it would be terrible management.
When should the Colorado Avalanche have bigger news on Landeskog?
The timeline of Landeskog’s recovery could be up in the air for a while, but initial reports were saying that his recovery could be somewhere between 12-16 months. At the very latest, that puts us in September.
The best and encouraging thing is that Landeskog has not given up hope of playing again. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no doctor and I’m not a fly on the wall, but it feels as if this particular situation is an iffy one. One setback could end up being terrible news for Landeskog and the Avalanche. I suppose that is why they are taking it easy.
It would be beneficial to have Landeskog play a little bit in the preseason to get his feet wet before the games really matter. Any sort of progress we see on the ice is going to be huge.
Landeskog has a $7 million cap hit every year of his contract. It will run out after the 2028-29 season.