Landeskog’s absence continues to loom large
Photo by Michael Martin/NHLI via Getty Images
12 weeks has turned into a lot longer than 12 weeks. The captain is still missing. Gabriel Landeskog remains out for an extended period of time.
When it was first announced Landeskog would be missing 12 weeks back in November, the anticipation was the Colorado Avalanche would survive without him through the early months of the season. They would be awaiting his arrival on the ice in early-mid January.
Now in mid-January, we know he’s not even around the team. Not even in the country. Gone. Missing, still, en route to his recovery. Which is now a “we will wait and see” situation, as stated by head coach Jared Bednar Tuesday morning on Altitude Sports Radio.
Paraphrasing Bednar on @AltitudeSR…Malgin gonna be a bit. Helm we don’t know, gonna mis time. Landeskog still a ways out, maybe starting to skate after the break. Manson gonna come on the road trip with the team. Both of those guys hopefully back right after the All Star Break— Raj - Altitude Sports Radio (Alex Rajaniemi) (@RajOnRadio) January 17, 2023
He is not going to skate until the beginning or middle of February at best. From there, it will be a matter of how he feels in the skates for the first time in-game action in nearly a year. Similar to Valeri Nichushkin’s recent return, Landeskog has to work with what he’s got and hope he feels good enough to close out perhaps the final month and a half of the season.
At this point, rumblings around the organization are he could just sit until the start of the playoffs, should the Avalanche get there in the first place. Similar to the 2020-21 Tampa Bay Lightning, who went the regular season without Nikita Kucherov, they have been utilizing the LTIR in the hope he’ll return in time for the start of a run.
Will it work out for Colorado in the same way it worked for the Lightning? It’s up to the Hockey Gods to decide the fate of the Avalanche from here on out.
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