WINNIPEG -- Though Gabriel Landeskog can't play for the Colorado Avalanche, the injured captain was on the ice helping them prepare for Game 2 of the Western Conference First Round against the Winnipeg Jets at Canada Life Centre on Tuesday (9:30 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, ALT, ESPN).
"He's such a great person, great leader obviously," center Nathan MacKinnon said. "He can give us good insight and he's kind of like a coach right now."
Colorado trails the best-of-7 series 1-0.
Landeskog had cartilage transplant surgery on his right knee May 10, 2023. The forward hasn't played since June 26, 2022, when he had an assist to help Colorado win the Stanley Cup with a 2-1 victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final. He had surgery on his quad during the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, knee surgery in March 2022, again in October of that year, and missed the entire 2022-23 season. He has not played more than 54 games in a full NHL season since 2018-19.
At the time of his second surgery, Landeskog was expected to be out 12 weeks. On Tuesday, dressed in sweats, he was passing to Avalanche players during skate.
"I think he helps our team morale," coach Jared Bednar said. "'Landy' is just a great person, player, sort of an extension of the coaching staff, a guy anyone on our team can go to and lean on with any sort of issues. He has a really good understanding of our overall team concept, game, attitude that we want to have, been with us and won with us.
"I think having him around, it's just good for morale all around, especially knowing that he's working to try and get back. They see how hard he works off the ice, in the gym, and he's hitting the ice occasionally now and working on his rehab. I mean, I think everyone's rooting for him and I think he's just another guy helping to keep the train on the right tracks."
The No. 2 pick by the Avalanche in the 2011 NHL Draft, Landeskog has 571 points (248 goals, 323 assists) in 738 NHL games.
Asked if the Avalanche hope to remain in the playoffs long enough for Landeskog to return, Bednar said, "That would be an ideal situation for us, if we were able to continue to advance and he'd be able to get back in. We don't know if that's the case.
"We have a lot of motivation as a team," Bednar continued. "We've got guys that have won that want to do it again, we have guys who haven't, we have guys like Zach Parise in our room that are coming out of retirement to play for a chance to win. You go through the group everyone has their own personal motivation, but as a team we have a lot as well. That's certainly another piece of it."
