Landeskog likes Avalanche's chances of winning Stanley Cup

Gabriel Landeskog returned to Pepsi Center on Monday for the first time since March 11, when the Colorado Avalanche played the New York Rangers the day before the NHL paused the season due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus.

The forward participated in a voluntary, limited small-group workout in Phase 2 of the Return to Play Plan.

"That was awesome," he said Tuesday. "I know it's weird circumstances, and I know there's a lot of protocols to follow. But … the world is a crazy place right now. For us, for me, my attitude has always been, make the best of the situation, and that's what we're trying to do. I'm taking it day by day and making the most of it."

The Avalanche arguably are in the best position to make the best of the situation.

They were second in the Western Conference and third in the NHL with a .657 points percentage at the pause even though they were plagued by injuries to key players.

Center Nathan MacKinnon was a candidate for the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP with 35 goals, 14 more than any of his teammates, and 93 points, 43 more than any of his teammates.

The Avalanche's next five leading scorers each missed significant time. Defenseman Cale Makar (50 points) missed 13 games, forward Andre Burakovsky (45) 12, Landeskog (44) 16, forward Mikko Rantanen (41) 28 and center Nazem Kadri (36) 19.

Now they have had time to rest and rehab.

"Every team goes through a stint of injuries at some point or another during the season," said Landeskog, the Colorado captain. "For us, it just felt like this year, for whatever reason, it wasn't just one guy at a time. It was always two, three guys that went down for longer periods of time, which made it hard.

"But I'm proud of the way the group responded. Every single time somebody went down, other guys stepped up. So definitely it does benefit us to have had this time off and allowing the guys that were hurt or have been battling injuries all year to recover and get back to full strength. It does benefit us, no doubt."

Provided health and safety conditions allow and the NHL and NHL Players' Association reach an agreement on Phases 3 and 4 of the Return to Play Plan, training camps will open July 10, and 24 teams will play in the Stanley Cup Qualifiers.

The top four teams in each conference will play a three-game round-robin for seeding, and the other teams will play best-of-5 series to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The dates and locations of two hub cities -- one for the 12 Eastern Conference teams, one for the 12 Western teams -- are to be announced.

Under the normal format, the Avalanche would have had to emerge from the Central Division, which includes the St. Louis Blues, the defending Stanley Cup champions, and the Dallas Stars, who took the Blues to overtime of Game 7 of the Western Conference Second Round last year.

Now the path, at least in theory, could be easier. They will play the Blues, the Stars and the Vegas Golden Knights in the round-robin. Once the playoffs begin, there won't be a bracket system. The matchups will be based on seeding.

"I think the League and the PA, we're trying to make the best of the situation," Landeskog said. "I said it early on. We're not going to achieve fairness. It's just not going to happen. I trust the [Return to Play Committee] that was working through all of this and all the different formats and scenarios and things like that. They sat down and looked at every single possibility, and this is what they came up with, and I think it's as good as it's going to get.

"The world feels at times like it's turned upside down right now, and so everything else is different. So why would the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs be normal? You know what I mean? Everything is a little bit different this year, and we're just going to have to make the most of it, and I hope the fans can get behind it and get excited about it just as I am, because I'm excited just to have a chance to take a run at the Stanley Cup this year."

Teams might not be in midseason form defensively.

"Who knows what it's going to look like?" Landeskog said. "But usually at the start of the year, the first five, 10 games of the season, they're maybe not the tightest structurally or system-wise."

Perhaps that might benefit a team like the Avalanche with youth, speed and skill, especially if that youth, speed and skill is healthy.

"All teams are going to be healthy for the most part," Landeskog said. "Everybody's had time to heal bumps and bruises and injuries. Now it's just a matter of who's going to get off and running the fastest. I like our chances. I think obviously we're still a pretty young team and we're an exciting group, and I like what we can do. Yeah, it should be fun."