The Colorado Avalanche enter the postseason relatively healthy, with star forward Nathan MacKinnon being the only player held out of late-season games for precautionary reasons and the defense corps largely intact.
Following Friday's news, the Avs could be on the verge of having a significant postseason boost.
Team captain Gabriel Landeskog has been ruled “an option” for the Avalanche’s first-round series against the Dallas Stars, which begins Saturday night in Dallas.
Speaking with reporters Friday, Avs head coach Jared Bednar addressed Landeskog’s status for the Western Conference's first-round matchup.
“He’s close, he's getting close,” Bednar said. “Every day I feel like he’s getting a little quicker, a little bit more confident, and a little bit more sure of himself.
”He’ll be an option for us in this series.”
Landeskog has not played an NHL game since June 26, 2022, when he helped the Avalanche clinch the Stanley Cup in a Game 6 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Since then, the 32-year-old forward has endured multiple knee surgeries, including a cartilage transplant in 2023 that many feared would end his career.
Colorado Avalanche left wing Gabriel Landeskog (92) warms up before a game at Ball Arena.
Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images
Those fears didn't turn into a reality, however, as the Avs announced on Monday that Landeskog had finished a conditioning loan in the AHL to join the Avalanche as they get their postseason run going.
Landeskog, drafted with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2011 NHL draft, has posted 571 points in 738 regular-season games and 67 points in 69 career playoff appearances.
After nearly two years of recovery, he returned to professional hockey last weekend, registering a goal and an assist in a two-game conditioning stint with the Colorado Eagles.
Landeskog has rejoined Avalanche practices this week and has been skating at full speed, but he has not been announced as available for Game 1 between the Stars and the Avs, with puck-drop set for 8:30 p.m. ET on Saturday on TBS/TruTV.
