Gabriel Landeskog Will Not Return For Playoffs

A significant blow has been dealt to the Colorado Avalanche’s hopes of defending their 2022 Stanley Cup championship. Per a team announcement, Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog’s knee injury will keep him from returning to the active roster and playing in the playoffs.

The announcement makes it official that Landeskog will miss the entirety of the 2022-23 campaign. He underwent knee surgery in October, and at the time his recovery was expected to take around 12 weeks.

Obviously, Landeskog’s recovery hasn’t been quite as fast, and in early March Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar called Landeskog’s recovery a “slow-moving process” that hadn’t yet resulted in his return to practice.

The 30-year-old is, when healthy, among the Avalanche’s most important contributors and when paired with Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen can give Colorado what is likely the best line in hockey.

While Colorado hasn’t taken a major step back in his absence (they’re just one point behind the Dallas Stars for the Central Division title with a game in hand) his production has been and will continue to be a challenge to replace.

Landeskog scored 30 goals and 59 points in just 51 games last season and added 11 goals and 22 points in the Avalanche’s successful playoff run last season.

In recent games, the Avalanche have played Evan Rodrigues in Landeskog’s traditional first-line left wing spot, and while Rodrigues is a solid, productive middle-sixer (15 goals and 36 points in 67 games this year) he can’t offer nearly what Landeskog can.

At the very least, Avalanche fans can take solace in the fact that their team has had since the start of the season to find a way to survive without Landeskog, and as mentioned they’ve done more than just keep their heads above water this season.

So while this announcement confirming Landeskog will not return for the playoffs certainly makes winning a second-straight Stanley Cup more of a challenge, it’s still entirely possible that the Avalanche still find their way to hockey’s summit once again.

They remain a deep squad with some of the best high-end talent in the NHL, and they’ve already spent the last few months proving to rival teams that they can still dominate games even without their captain on the ice.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images