Linnea Landeskog was one Stanley Cup tall the last time her father began a season in the Colorado Avalanche lineup.
That year ended with Gabe Landeskog lifting the 35-pound trophy over his head, and an ensuing collection of forever memories too vast to count. One of them was 2-year-old Linnea, standing with her arms wrapped about hockey’s most coveted prize.
That night, June 26, 2022, was also the last for 1,020 days before Linnea’s father played hockey again. After missing three regular seasons with various procedures on his knee, Landeskog returned April 11, 2025, with the Colorado Eagles. He played twice in Loveland, then the final five games of the Colorado Avalanche’s first-round series defeat against the Dallas Stars.
Now, one of the most incredible comebacks in any sport enters a new phase. Landeskog made it all the way back, the first NHL player to do so after having knee cartilage transplant surgery. Next up is a new challenge: The grind of an 82-game season, and the resumption of being a full-time hockey player.
There are a couple of noticeable differences.
Linnea, and her younger brother, Luke, have a baby sister, Ella, after the Landeskogs welcomed their third child in June. And the logistics with drop-offs and pick-ups for school, gymnastics and hockey practices have grown along with them for Gabe and his wife, Melissa,
But there’s another part of this that is more exciting for the two oldest Landeskog children, who turn six and five years old, respectively, during the 2025-26 season.
“They’re going to be old enough to watch,” Gabe Landeskog said to The Denver Post. “We watched the Broncos game (Monday night), and they were excited. They’re learning numbers, so they’re trying to figure out who’s winning the game based off the score at the bottom. It’s fun, and they’ll be able to do the same thing for our game.
“I’ve explained to them that daddy is going to be traveling a lot more now that I’m back and healthy and going to be playing with my team. And my daughter is just comforting me. She’s like, ‘Yeah, but we’re gonna be able to watch it on TV, though, right?’ So, yeah, it’s exciting.”
Colorado Avalanche left wing Gabriel Landeskog (92) acknowledges the fans while being introduced before the National Anthem for game three of the first round of the NHL playoffs against the Dallas Stars at Ball Arena in Denver on Wednesday, April 23, 2025. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)
“Don’t even think about it anymore”
Plenty has changed around Landeskog and the Avalanche since the 2022 Stanley Cup Final.
Several players arrived, and then left, without ever playing a game with the Colorado captain. His longtime friend, Erik Johnson, returned at the trade deadline last year and has now retired.
But here’s one thing that hasn’t changed, and part of what continues to add to this incredible comeback story: How Landeskog looks on the ice.
He returned for Game 3 of the Avs’ series against the Stars. One game later, he was promoted to the second line and the top power-play unit. The announcement of his name in the starting lineup for Game 3 was one of the loudest moments in Ball Arena history. His goal in Game 4 was one of the most magical.
For five games, he was one of the best players on the ice in a series chock-full of stars. That was a short-term situation, though.
How would his repaired knee handle a full summer of offseason training? If that was step one for this season, put a check mark next to it.
“Overall, (the offseason) was relatively normal,” Landeskog said. “A little bit different. A little bit of planning. It’s not as straightforward. It’s still a lot of managing my health and my knee, especially.
“I know my life and my training is going to be different moving forward. It just has to be a lot more detailed. I can’t just do what anybody’s doing in the gym. I still have to make sure it’s something I can handle.”
Next up was training camp. Longer, more intense practices. A couple of games against lineups with unknown opponents.
And one of the most consistent themes of this Avalanche training camp is how often everyone raves about how the captain looks. To this point, he had one scheduled day off.
“We’ll be ready to manage it however we have to manage it. He’s doing well right now,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “The workload is the test, right? If we have to back him off a little bit and give him some rest days, we’ll do that. He’s been on the ice a lot. He’s gone through the practices. It’s just doing this last 10 days over and over again throughout the course of the season.”
When the Avs open the season Tuesday in Los Angeles, there will be no minutes restriction. There’s no cap on how many games he might play this year, either. It’s all unknown, but all of the data to this point has been overwhelmingly positive.
His first preseason game, Landeskog had a pretty assist, helped create another goal with a screen in front of the opposing goalie and punched a guy in the face a few times for hitting Cale Makar up high with an elbow. His second preseason game, Landeskog scored the club’s lone goal in a game with two NHL-heavy lineups in Las Vegas.
“I don’t even think about it anymore,” said Avs defenseman Josh Manson, who still hasn’t played a regular-season game with Landeskog since arriving in March 2022. “It’s just like … we have Gabe. He’s on our team. He’s always been a part of our team, but now he’s on the ice with us, skating with us. I don’t think about it really anymore. It’s just gotten to that point.”
Gabriel Landeskog (92) of the Colorado Avalanche hoists the Stanley Cup during a championship celebration before the first period against the Chicago Blackhawks at Ball Arena in Denver on Wednesday, October 12, 2022. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
“It’s how it should be”
What comes next is the grind, but it also feels like the dynamics of how Landeskog’s comeback could go from here have already changed.
For three years, it felt like a race against time and probabilities for Landeskog to just play one more NHL game in his career. Now, with some evidence that the guy who was one of the best players in the world in 2022 might be able to turn back the clock, optimism abounds.
“I think all the stuff he’s been doing off the ice has been really good for his game,” Avs star Nathan MacKinnon said. “Things are always evolving. His work away from the rink is really great and smart. He’s doing all the right things. He’s got a new knee, I guess. It must be weird, but he doesn’t look any different. It’s incredible.”
On the ice, Landeskog’s full-time return helped add clarity in the offseason that the franchise hasn’t seen in years. Colorado locked up Brock Nelson to be the No. 2 center behind MacKinnon, and with Landeskog, Martin Necas, Valeri Nichushkin and Artturi Lehkonen, the Avs could have the best collection of top-six forward talent in the NHL.
He and Nichushkin will create havoc in front of the opposing goaltender. The physical element, whether it is battling with defensemen in the hard areas of the ice, creating space with big hits or the charge of emotion that comes from the team’s captain dropping the gloves, has already been palpable.
When Landeskog played in the exhibition game at Magness Arena, the loudest crowd pop of the night was when the public address speaker announced his fighting major.
“He’s a great person and a great leader, but at the end of the day, you’ve got to be good at hockey, too. And he is very, very good at that,” MacKinnon said. “It’s like Dallas having Jamie Benn, or not. It’s a big man, a big presence that you can’t really quantify with the numbers sometimes. There are only a handful of those types of players in the league, and we have one.”
Being an NHL player of any type and returning from this surgical procedure has made Landeskog one of one. But he has also been considered one of the sport’s great leaders for years, and that hasn’t changed.
“The presence he carries on the ice, off the ice, he’s vocal,” Manson said. “He’s got a good feel, right? He has that kind of feel to know when to say things, what to say.”
Brent Burns has played nearly 1,500 regular-season games and logged many battles with Landeskog in the corners and in front of his net. After signing with the Avalanche in July, he arrived in Denver early to get his family settled, and he’s gotten an up-close look at how Landeskog has earned his reputation as a leader.
“You always hear how special of a guy he is, but to see it every day, it’s been great. It’s been really great,” Burns said. “He just does all the little things right. With those guys, it’s like, ‘Man, just fall. Or do something so we can see you’re human.’ His hair’s probably always perfect under his helmet, too.
“He is a really special guy. Just the way he takes care of everybody — you can tell right away he’s got a great beat for how everybody’s doing.”
Colorado Avalanche left wing Gabriel Landeskog (92) and Dallas Stars center Sam Steel (18) face-off in the third period of game three of the first round of the NHL playoffs at Ball Arena in Denver on Wednesday, April 23, 2025. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)
For the Avs, it feels like back to business as usual. For Landeskog, there are going to be a lot of “first time since” experiences.
There are cities he hasn’t been to as a player in four years. There will also be a return to the Winter Olympics in February with Sweden.
“I always talk to my wife about this — like, I eat to live. I don’t necessarily live to eat,” Landeskog said. “So for me, it’s not about a restaurant or a certain type of food. I’m just excited to be with my teammates again and get that camaraderie and get to spend that time with the guys on the road and just be part of the grind again.”
For players like MacKinnon, Makar and Devon Toews, they’ve spent the past three seasons growing into bigger leadership roles, with not only Landeskog missing but guys like Johnson moving on. Now their captain is back, but more importantly, so is one of their best friends.
“It’s just nice,” MacKinnon said. “It’s how it should be.”
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