Avs captain brings 'good energy' to team
Colorado's captain missed last season and will not play this season but he's not missing from the team.
There was an addition to the Colorado Avalanche bench for morning skate ahead of their matchup against the reigning Stanley Cup Champion Vegas Golden Knights.
Captain Gabriel Landeskog was with his team at Ball Arena and even hit the ice to help out with some puck movement. Although he was not on skates or suited up to join his team in their battle against Vegas, his presence is felt and appreciated in many other ways.
"It's great to have him back into town and around the team. His presence, even though he's not playing, it's huge," Mikko Rantanen said. "Guys have a lot of respect for him, obviously he's our captain. I think it's mentally good for him and good for us to have the captain around."
The 31-year-old Swede announced that he would miss the entire 2023-24 season before he underwent surgery for a cartilage transplant in his right knee in Chicago on May 10. Since then, he has been recuperating and rehabilitating outside of Colorado, most recently in Toronto.
There has not been an update in the last few months on his recovery timeline but he has not officially, publicly started skating yet. But he is helping guide the team off the ice in the meantime.
"It's always awesome having Landy (Landeskog) around. Just the presence he has — you can't really replace that type of leader within in the locker room," Logan O'Connor said. "The guy he is — his ability to connect with everyone on a different and unique level is awesome. Just having his energy, he's in great spirits so it's been awesome having him here on the bench too."
He returned to Denver in early December with his family and they have settled back into their Mile High City home. He has been around the team since his return and it has made an impact on his teammates and his coach.
"He always brings a good energy," head coach Jared Bednar said. "The guys gravitate towards him and they all have a job to do and he's a little but more relaxed but it's nice to be a little bit relaxed and have some upbeat energy around on any time — after losses, it's great, after wins it's good to kind of keep the ball rolling. So it's nice to have him around."
Hopefully there will be an update on his progression in the near future.