{"id":567223,"date":"2026-05-05T05:42:41","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T05:42:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/567223\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T05:42:41","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T05:42:41","slug":"avalanche-captain-gabe-landeskog-named-finalist-for-masterton-trophy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/567223\/","title":{"rendered":"Avalanche captain Gabe Landeskog named finalist for Masterton Trophy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gabe Landeskog\u2019s comeback story is both well-documented and remarkable<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Avalanche captain, who missed three full regular seasons before returning during the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, was named one of three finalists Monday for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy. The award is given to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey by the Professional Hockey Writers Association.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s so well deserved,\u201d Avs coach Jared Bednar said. \u201cI think he\u2019s going to win it. I think he should win it. \u2026 There\u2019s not many guys in the history of the NHL that have been able to kind of go through something like that for that length of time, and that much of a rigorous rehab that wears on you mentally, physically, and to be able to come through the other side and still be the player that he is.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not easy to do. So I think that it\u2019s obviously why he\u2019s nominated. We\u2019re not the only ones that recognize it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buffalo\u2019s Rasmus Dahlin and Winnipeg\u2019s Jonathan Toews are the other finalists. It is an award with dozens of worthy recipients every season.<\/p>\n

Landeskog played through a knee injury during Colorado\u2019s run to the Stanley Cup championship in 2022. The price he paid was more severe than anyone could have predicted. The Avs captain did not play another hockey game for 1,020 days<\/a>, when he returned for the Colorado Eagles before rejoining the Avs for Game 3 of their first-round series against the Dallas Stars.<\/p>\n

He missed three regular seasons because of complications with his knee. There were four procedures, including knee cartilage transplant surgery. Landeskog became the first player to have that procedure and return to the NHL.<\/p>\n

Not only did Landeskog return, but he was also one of Colorado\u2019s best players in a seven-game loss to the Stars. There was plenty of uncertainty about how Landeskog\u2019s knee would hold up in his first full season back.<\/p>\n

He has not missed a game this season because of anything related to his knee. What has made his comeback even more remarkable is that he has had to deal with two incredibly painful injuries \u2014 broken ribs after crashing into the goal post, and he needed surgery after taking a Cale Makar shot to his groin area.<\/p>\n

Landeskog\u2019s reputation as one of the great leaders in sports has only been further augmented this season<\/a>. With their captain in the lineup, they went 45-7-8 in the regular season and are now 5-0 in the playoffs after defeating the Minnesota Wild, 9-6, in a chaotic Game 1 of their second-round series<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year was such a special game when he came back,\u201d Avs star Nathan MacKinnon said. \u201cIt was almost bigger than the whole series. It was amazing. I think this year, it\u2019s a lot more normal. It just feels like he never really left the room. We were talking about that with a few other teammates. The last three years have flew by quick. I don\u2019t think it did for him, he worked extremely hard to get back and I think now, yeah, it just feels normal again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want more Avalanche news? Sign up for the Avalanche Insider to get all our NHL analysis.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gabe Landeskog\u2019s comeback story is both well-documented and remarkable. The Colorado Avalanche captain, who missed three full regular…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":567224,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5116],"tags":[193,1116,192,144,3888,5277,1035,5,1117,1180,1262,517,4,43,14,104],"class_list":{"0":"post-567223","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-colorado-avalanche","8":"tag-avalanche","9":"tag-cale-makar","10":"tag-colorado","11":"tag-colorado-avalanche","12":"tag-colorado-eagles","13":"tag-coloradoavalanche","14":"tag-gabe-landeskog","15":"tag-hockey","16":"tag-jared-bednar","17":"tag-latest-headlines","18":"tag-more-avalanche-news","19":"tag-nathan-mackinnon","20":"tag-nhl","21":"tag-sports","22":"tag-stanley-cup","23":"tag-stanley-cup-playoffs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116520376334111287","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/567224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}