Speaking with reporters including NHL.com’s Ryan Boulding (Twitter link) following their elimination, Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar indicated that winger Gabriel Landeskog wasn’t particularly close to returning and had already been ruled out for the rest of the playoffs had Colorado advanced. However, he’s optimistic that his captain will be able to return next season. Landeskog hasn’t played since the 2022 playoffs and underwent a knee cartilage transplant procedure last May. He was ruled out for the entire regular season soon after, allowing the Avs to put his $7MM contract on LTIR which gave them some spending flexibility. If they’re expecting Landeskog to return in 2024-25, however, they won’t have that option this time around.
More from the Central Division:
- The Stars have been without defenseman Jani Hakanpaa for more than two months after initially being listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury. However, it appears he could be available in the somewhat near future as Lia Assimakopoulos of the Dallas Morning News relays that the 32-year-old has been skating on his own and accompanied the team to Colorado for their series-clinching victory on Friday. While he still needs to get in some practices with the team before getting the green light to return, the fact he’s skating and traveling now suggests he could be cleared at some point next round.
- Still with the Stars, head coach Peter DeBoer told team reporter Mike Heika (Twitter link) that center Roope Hintz would have been doubtful to play in Game Seven had the series gotten that far. Hintz suffered an upper-body injury in the fourth game of their series against Colorado and was designated as out day-to-day at the time. Now, he’ll have a few more days to rest up for the Western Conference Final. Hintz has had a quiet playoff performance, notching six points in 11 games but four of those came in one contest in the second round.