Gabriel Landeskog says a harsh truth about his current leadership role with Colorado Avalanche

It’s been tough for the Colorado Avalanche to overcome some obstacles over the past couple of seasons since winning the Stanley Cup in 2021-22. One of their biggest losses has been that of Gabriel Landeskog, who, as everyone is aware, hasn’t played since the series-winning game against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

As Landeskog pointed out, there has been quite a lot of turnover since he last played. That is possibly one of the reasons why he feels like his presence in the locker room in his current state doesn’t mean as much.

Sadly, it makes a lot of sense. With the Cup-winning roster, Landeskog had been around those players the entire time. Now, his focus is pretty strictly on his rehab, with some room in between schedules to take in some Avalanche games. For guys like Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar, it’s great to have Landeskog around, but the focus in the locker room—in my eyes—is the current group of players bonding.

Even Landeskog himself said in his interview with Spittin’ Chiclets. At 1:19:53 in the video, former player Paul Bissonette asks Landeskog how much he talks with MacKinnon and how proud Landeskog is of where MacKinnon’s game is at. Landeskog says he gets a “front row seat of what Nate’s doing and I can’t say I’m surprised.

At 1:21:28 in the video, Landeskog says he wishes he could be in there to help the team. He also points out that his mindset is so focused on getting his self healthier and saving his career, that being a leader “hasn’t been an option” for him for a long time.

“At the same time, what am I going to say? I haven’t played in three years. Am I going to walk in there and do a rah rah and say, ‘no guys, change this, F1 needs to do that.‘ Obviously I’m around and I’m talking to guys and checking in on everybody but I think it’s alloallowed guys like Nate (MacKinnon) and Cale (Makar) and Toewser (Devon Toews) and a lot of these guys around the room to kind of get out of their comfort zone a little bit. It’s never a one-man’s show. It’s always by committee. Guys can contribute in a lot of different ways. It’s allowed everybody to take a step out of their comfort zone.”

As is the case for any team who, let’s say, is near the end of their career, there’s not a big difference between Landeskog’s absence and a normal everyday sports retirement. The fact is that everybody in that locker room needs to step up and like Landeskog says several times, get out of their comfort zone. It truly is a sad reality because at the end of the day, they’re all humans and the guys who have played with Landeskog that are still in Colorado love him. There’s a lot of turnover, though, so it really makes sense for the players on the roster to step up and be that leader, or close to that level of leader, that Landeskog was in the past.