DENVER — A storybook ending it was not. But don’t tell Gabriel Landeskog that.
Of course, losing 2-1 in overtime to the Dallas Stars stung, especially for someone who is so incredibly competitive, but in the immediate aftermath of a career comeback that nearly wasn’t, until it finally was 34 months later, the 32-year-old captain of the Colorado Avalanche absolutely appreciated the bigger story at hand.
“From my perspective, regardless of the outcome of the game, that was a memory of a lifetime for me,’’ Landeskog said postgame. “It was very special.’’
From the end of the Stanley Cup final on June 26, 2022, to Game 3 of the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs for Colorado, a span of 1,032 days, Landeskog was back in an NHL game Wednesday night, something that was very much in doubt during the darkest days of his long recovery.
“I’ve probably played this game 100 times in my mind already and envisioned what it was going to feel like,’’ he said. “And obviously it wasn’t even close to what it actually felt like. But at least I had envisioned it and allowed myself to go there at times. But then all day today and all week really I’ve had to keep my emotions in check and try to stay calm and in control. When you get all riled up and you get all emotional, it’s easy to get tired extra fast, it’s easy to make stupid decisions out there and make the wrong reads. So I was trying to make sure I was as in-tuned to the game plan as I could be and same thing with my emotions.
“But at the same time allowing myself to enjoy everything because it’s a very special night.’’
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Landeskog energized Ball Arena right from warmup, leading his team out on the ice. The reaction from the crowd was pure love for their captain.
“I don’t know what exactly was going through my body and mind at that time, but it was pretty special,’’ Landeskog said of the fans’ embrace. “That’s a memory for life. Simple as that. Yeah, Avs faithful, they make it special, you know? It’s a special place to play, it’s a special place to live and raise a family. Obviously last three years have been difficult at times and to come back and to feel that love, it’s incredible.’’
Jared Bednar understood the moment. While Landeskog played on the third line on this night with Charlie Coyle and Joel Kiviranta, the Avs head coach made sure to have his captain in the starting lineup alongside Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas so the Ball Arena crowd could further douse him with affection upon introduction.
Regular-season game? Sure. But it’s not every coach in the league who would do that for a playoff game.
“Obviously very special to be out there for that,’’ said Landeskog. “I think that just goes to show what kind of people we have in this organization, top to bottom. I wouldn’t be sitting here today if it wasn’t for the support of everybody in this organization.’’
Then, puck drop.
Landeskog decked his old buddy Mikko Rantanen on his first shift, which set the tone for what was his usual physical brand of hockey, the captain throwing his weight around without hesitation all night, leading the Avs with six hits in the game.
He set up Coyle in the slot for a decent scoring chance in the second period. He also took a pretty good hit from Stars defenseman Lian Bichsel in the third period but got up on his feet.
All in all, a rather smooth return for Landeskog after all this time, playing 13:16 minutes on 18 shifts, including 1:45 of power-play time on the second unit.
“I felt pretty good,” he said. “Speed wise, legs, physically, I felt good. You know, it’s still my third game (including two AHL games). So I got a lot of things to improve on, and just timing and seeing things, seeing the right plays, executing them. So that’s one of the positives is there’s a lot of areas of improvement. I’m looking forward to it, and I think every game is going to continue to get better. Same thing goes for our team.’’
He got more than his feet wet on this night.
“It was great to have him back,” said Bednar. “I thought the building was incredible, like right from the start of the game. The energy, they embraced him coming back as they should. It was great to see. … I was pleasantly surprised with the poise he showed with the puck and being able to make plays. It’s happening fast. There’s not a lot of room. But he looked pretty relaxed and made a lot of plays for us tonight.’’
It was a night Landeskog wasn’t sure would happen.
There isn’t a single player in NHL history who knows exactly how Landeskog felt because no other player has ever come back and played in the NHL from this exact form of cartilage transplant knee surgery.
But there are certainly players who have lived some elements of it. Take Steven Stamkos, who willed himself back in a seven-month recovery for only a few shifts in Game 3 of the 2020 Stanley Cup final, scoring a goal of course, before re-injuring himself. But it was worth it for him to get that moment in a Cup championship year. Stamkos also missed three months and a chance to play in the 2014 Olympics after suffering a broken leg in 2013-14.
So yeah, he can relate to what Landeskog has gone through to some degree.
“It’s a ton of work behind the scenes that takes a village,’’ Stamkos told The Athletic via text message this week. “From family to friends to the training staff. It’s a proud moment for everyone involved. Obviously a lot a dark days, too, and I can’t even imagine three years. But I’m extremely proud of Gabe. I have seen some of the work he has put in during the summer months where we train together with Gary Roberts. He is one of the great competitors I have played against and he is an even better person.’’
Landeskog started doing offseason work with the Gary Roberts Performance team north of Toronto back in the summer of ’21. Roberts’ group, which has also helped the likes of Connor McDavid and many other NHLers, has been among the different sources helping Landeskog in this three-year journey back.
“I watched every shift of his return in the AHL,’’ Roberts said in a phone interview with The Athletic on Wednesday.
“To see what he’s done, the commitment, the patience, the professionalism that he’s shown through this, he’s a pretty darn good human,” added Roberts. “You don’t come across too many Gabe Landeskogs in your time.’’
Roberts has the unique perspective of not only being involved in Landeskog’s comeback but having himself lived those fears when he played, unsure if a serious neck injury was ending his career back in the 1990s.
“I took 18 months off playing in the NHL. I know how I felt coming back from 18 months off, I can’t imagine what three years and jumping into the Stanley Cup playoffs feels like,’’ Roberts said.
Roberts still remembers after the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in ’22, Landeskog FaceTimed the Roberts group with the Stanley Cup and thanked them for their work with him.
“But then to see what he went through after that, with the ups and downs and the surgeries and the cartilage transplant, it’s been a long road for this poor guy,’’ said Roberts.
Adrian Vilaca, strength and conditioning coach for the Gary Roberts Performance group, has worked a lot with Landeskog through this. He was here in Denver for Game 3 Wednesday night. It was important for him to be on hand for it, knowing how much Landeskog had put into this near miracle comeback.
“I’d be lying if I said there weren’t moments that we didn’t think it would happen, so it’s pretty special,’’ Vilaca told The Athletic during the first intermission. “One thing that’s so impressive about Gabe is his mind. He’s committed to the process. He really took it one step at a time. So sometimes it was one step forwards, and truthfully sometimes it was backwards. We were in some dark places, myself and the entire (Roberts) performance team, and the Colorado guys did a great job, and Bill Knowles in Philadelphia did a great job.
“But sometimes we’d feel four weeks ahead of schedule, then two weeks behind schedule. It was not an easy process.’’
Landeskog and Vilaca went to see Knowles in Philadelphia several times. He’s a renowned specialist and therapist who works with athletes in different sports recovering from serious knee injuries.
Marcin Goszczyński, a performance rehabilitation specialist, is another key trainer here in Denver who has been instrumental for Landeskog.
Just one of many people who played a part in Landeskog finding a way back.
“It was a pretty collaborative process,” said Roberts. “It wasn’t just us involved, he had chiropractors and doctors involved. My point is it took more than one person to help direct Gabe. And of course, when you’re not healing as fast as you want to heal, you start searching for other specialists or other people who have the knowledge to try to help him. I’m sure at one point he felt like he was chasing his tail, because he wasn’t making enough progress fast enough.’’
And sometimes wanting it so bad meant making mistakes.
“Gabe would say this but sometimes during the process he wasn’t patient enough and he would end up getting sore or end up getting swelling,” Roberts said. “It was a real give and take, and I would say that’s where Adrian Vilaca, he was a real big plus for Gabe, because he understood that you couldn’t do too much in one workout or it would be a negative effect.
“The biggest challenge was just being patient and letting him heal,’’ added Roberts. “He just needed time. I mean, I don’t think anybody thought it would be three years.’’
Roberts himself remembers the uncertainty during his comeback back in 1997.
“You just fight these emotions every day,” said Roberts. “You just always come back to this as an athlete, you end up saying, ‘If I don’t try, I’ll never know.’’’
Roberts would end up playing another 12 years after completing his comeback.
Who knows what this comeback means now for Landeskog. Who knows what kind of player he can be. Does he eventually return to first-line form or will he do his best as a bottom-six guy for the rest of his career? Or does the knee give him issues again? Nobody knows. But just making it back for Game 3 Wednesday night will always be worth it.
Even in the heat of a playoff series between rivals, it’s a comeback that will be talked about forever — and one that earned admiration in the Stars dressing room, too.
“He’s done so much work the last three years to come back, and it’s been ups and downs and disappointments and excitement and then back to disappointment. So to see him now do well and be back on the ice, happy for him,’’ said Rantanen, who fittingly stood across from Landeskog for the opening faceoff.
“I’m thrilled,’’ said his old Avs teammate Matt Duchene. “I think that’s so much bigger than hockey in this series. … He’s got a lot of runway left. Hopefully it’s not one of those things where it acts back up. For me, I look at two separate things. You obviously got to compete against him, and when you go out there, he’s just another player. But on the other side of things, it’s great. I’m just really happy that he’s gotten to this point.’’
Everyone in hockey is. But perhaps no one was happier on this night than Landeskog’s kids, aged 4 and 5, holding up signs in warmup, cheering on dad.
“That was as close to losing it during warmup was when I looked over at that and seeing their big, smiling faces,’’ said Landeskog. “It was very special. They’ve probably been thinking that I’ve been lying this whole time that I play hockey. I really do.’’
He smiled as he said that. It was a smile three years in the making.
(Photo: Isaiah J. Downing / Imagn Images)
