Landeskog Taking Recovery 'One Step At a Time' with Optimistic Attitude

One step at a time.

What has already been a long, gruesome journey for Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog - as he's pursued a strenuous road to recovery after sustaining a knee injury that kept him out of the lineup for the entirety of the 2022-23 regular season and postseason - he has encountered yet another impediment.

The team announced on Tuesday morning that Landeskog will undergo another operation on his right knee, a cartilage transplant, that will take place on Wednesday, May 10. The surgery will be performed by Dr. Brian Cole at the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. The 30-year-old winger is expected to miss the entire 2023-24 regular season.

Landeskog and Avalanche General Manager Chris MacFarland addressed the media shortly after announcing the news to share insight on the procedure and Landeskog's hopeful outlook on recovering and joining his teammates as soon as possible.

"We continued exploring and I've done more studying in the last month than I have since high school," Landeskog said in good spirits via his Zoom call. "[There's been] extensive research on my end and with the help of our medical staff on the team, I've talked to numerous doctors and medical experts and got opinions, learning more about what the different procedures would be. This is the one that we feel like is the best way forward and is the best solution for me to come back and play hockey again. It's been a process but at the same time, I feel confident in the decision and I'm excited to get going and I'm excited to have the first step out of the way."

The last time Landeskog played in a game for the Avalanche was at Amalie Arena in Game 6 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs in which he and his teammates secured the 2-1 victory to clinch the series against the Tampa Bay Lightning and victoriously claim the third Stanley Cup in franchise history.

And following the shortest offseason in NHL history, Landeskog experienced complications with his knee injury that he originally sustained due to a skate laceration in the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs and has since included an injury to the cartilage below the patella. Ahead of Colorado's Stanley Cup-winning run, the Swede had undergone knee surgery last March and then another procedure conducted last October, but noted that his recovery process hit a, "plateau," which led him to now pursue the cartilage transplant.

Landeskog noted that the procedure has over an 85% success rate. And while it's not a common procedure for many NHLers, Landeskog shared how he's leaned on the insight of Chicago Bulls point guard Lonzo Ball, who underwent the same surgery in March.

"It's an uncommon procedure for elite athletes and for hockey players even more so," Landeskog explained. "But basketball players have done them. I've actually spoken to Lonzo Ball who just had the same procedure done a couple of months ago… He shared some insight on what the first few weeks have been like. He's a guy that I'll be checking in with once in a while. It's nice to relate to somebody and for somebody to know what I'm talking about and I know what he's talking about going through certain steps of the process."

For the Avalanche captain, he understands the magnitude of missing what will be now, two full regular 82-game seasons, but instead, Landeskog is opting to frame his mindset in a positive manner and approach his recovery process with a narrow focus. He expressed that the support he's received over throughout the entirety of this journey has been, "overwhelming at times," but helped affirm his own confidence in himself and instill the hope that he will get through this process and back onto the ice where he belongs.

"I know it's a long time away from the game," Landeskog said. "But I'm confident in the player I am. I am confident in the athlete that I am. I know that I can get myself ready.

"You have to really break it down incrementally and take it one step at a time," Landeskog continued. "That's the only way to do it. For me, the hard times have been made a lot easier by the people I've surrounded myself with, my family, my friends, my teammates, the staff, the organization... It means a lot to me. It's really helped me out throughout this whole process. It really has been great and that support is something I'm going to continue leaning on over the next year or so. We'll just keep keep making the steps and keep making progress and I'm confident that I'm going to get there."

And if the motivation of being only 30-years-old and having tasted what winning a Stanley Cup feels like isn't enough motivation or incentive to ready himself for a return, being away from the game and his teammates this past year only deepened that desire.

"The last time I was on the ice and in a game-time situation it was Game 6 down at Tampa Bay," Landeskog said. "We were the winners of the last game of the season. So that's enough motivation in and of itself. I think watching our team this year has been very motivating and you know, there's been so many times where I just wished I could tie up the skates and go out there and play with them. I know that time will come. I just have to do what's right for my health and really, ultimately do what I can do so I'm able to go out there and play with the guys and continue to chase more Stanley Cups. I feel like we as a team have some really exciting going and we have a really excited fan base for all the right reasons. That's why I feel like this is the right opportunity for me to make sure that I'm healthy so I can come back and play."