Why a Gabriel Landeskog return feels more and more likely for the Colorado Avalanche

i know that there is a mix of opinions in Avs Nation regarding their feelings on Colorado Avalanche’s captain, Gabriel Landeskog’s, return to the lineup during the 2024-25 Stanley Cup playoffs. You have people who are extremely confident in his eventual return. You also have people who say they won’t believe it until they see it. Whichever side you are on in this topic, both are fair and make sense. As Landeskog has said, he doesn’t like to set timelines for himself as to not get disappointed if something ends up going wrong.

A new development has emerged recently, however. While the Avalanche are in St. Louis on Saturday to take on the Blues, Landeskog won’t be there as he does sometimes travel with the team. Instead, he is participating in practice… With the Colorado Eagles in the AHL.

There will probably be people who figure that this is just another way of getting on the ice for rehab-specific purposes only. Honestly in my eyes, I don’t know if he would be doing that. I would think that he would either travel with the Avalanche or just wait to hit the ice when they return from St. Louis, as their next game is on Tuesday against the Vegas Golden Knights.

To me, this feels like an obvious sign that Landeskog is completely serious and committed to getting back onto the ice once the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin. Unfortunately, no matter how much we want to see Landeskog in a regular season game this year, it literally cannot happen due to salary cap restraints. As I mentioned in a previous article, there is no salary cap in the NHL postseason. He’d be completely free to play for the Avalanche once those games begin.

There are going to be many eyes on this situation as the days come and go. It gives me chills to imagine Landeskog being on the ice for an actual game again—the first time in three years.

While we do have to wait a little bit longer, I think that Avalanche Nation can possibly get their hopes up again. It just feels like it’s going to happen this year. You can disagree if you’d like, but optimism just feels right.

Whether Landeskog fits in on the second line or fourth line, either one will be good enough at this stage. We’ll finally get to see the captain back in action after years of hard work.