The Colorado Avalanche captain is back, and on track, for a playoff comeback.
“I always had a clear vision of where I wanted to go and I think the deep belief never wavered really," Gabriel Landeskog said, returning to the ice after 1,020 days away from game action.
Landeskog played back-to-back games with the Colorado Eagles, showing his heavily-rehabbed knee could handle the rigors of professional hockey.
He also scored a goal, and the Eagles won both games, for those keeping score.
"I know I put the work in, I know I've put my time in," Landeskog said. "This weekend I've gotten a chance to take the next step - trust my training, trust where my knee is at, and it's been feeling really good."
However, Landeskog's trek wasn't a solo venture.
“You’re not doing this kind of a journey alone," Landeskog said. "You’re not doing anything in life on your own really. The support has been incredible and I wouldn’t be anywhere near here today without them.”
Family, friends and teammates all chipped in to make sure Landy kept his spirits up.
“Incredible," Landeskog's father, Tony, said. "When you think of all the hours, days he has put into it, it’s fantastic that he’s back.”
Returning to the proverbial saddle wasn't totally smooth. After three years mostly away from hockey Landeskog had to get his skating legs underneath him.
“[During the] on ice warm up I was trying to figure out what did I used to do," Landeskog said.
“I don’t think people realize how hard it is and how hard that would be," Andrew Cogliano, Landeskog's former teammate and the current assistant to Avs GM Chris MacFarland, said. "I don’t think I’d look even close to that so it was good. He’s getting better.”
Step one for Landeskog was to get back into the game. Now, however, comes the hard part — re-capturing the essence of what made him a Stanley Cup champion.
“It’s crazy to think that was his last game on the ice," Cogliano, who helped Landeskog lift the Stanley Cup in 2022, said. “Just an amazing player an amazing guy, captain, leader, a special person. We’re all crossing our fingers and watching him and hoping this is the start of his career again.”
“I think he’s going to want to try and get closer to who he was in 2022 not further apart," Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar said. "I want to see him get back to doing everything he was doing back then. It’ll take a little bit of time for him but it’s time for us to be patient and time for him to continue to push.”
To the eye test, Landeskog proved he is ready to return to the Avs lineup. The question now is if Bednar will bring the captain back for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in Dallas, or wait until Game 3 in front of the home crowd at Ball Arena.
“I think the drive to get better and my will to continue to improve game by game here is not going to stop," Landeskog said.
At the moment, I don't have that answer. But I do know that Landeskog's first stop after recovering from his first weekend back in professional hockey will be the film room.
“I’ve got some other game tape to review now," Landeskog said. "First game tape to review in a long time. So I’ll be excited to watch some fresh video finally.”
