SUNRISE, Fla. — The Colorado Avalanche players weren’t the only ones with Gabe Landeskog on their minds as they tried to play the final 38 minutes of a hockey game after watching their captain gingerly leave the ice surface following a scary crash.
The Florida Panthers were concerned about the health of Landeskog as well. Florida won the game, 2-1, handing Colorado its third regulation loss of the season.
But some things are more important than two points on a Sunday night in early January.
“The respect he has in this league — so many players come up to him and wish him well, love to see him back,” Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon, who helped Landeskog leave the ice surface, said. “Multiple Florida guys came up to us and were asking if it was his knee. Very classy of those guys to do that. It just shows the respect he has around the league and obviously in our room.”
It was a collective sigh of relief for everyone involved, plus hockey people on multiple continents, that Landeskog has an upper-body injury. Normally, that word is associated with bad things, mostly concussions, but the immediate concern with the Colorado captain was his inability to put any weight on his legs after crashing into the Florida net and then the end boards behind him.
Landeskog missed 1,020 days — three full regular seasons — with right knee issues, and needed four procedures before he was eventually able to return for two games with the Colorado Eagles and then the final five contests of a 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs series against the Dallas Stars.
There was almost a collective checklist. OK, it’s not the worst-case scenario — his right knee. OK, it’s not the second-worst outcome — a major injury to his left knee.
It’s clear that Landeskog was in a lot of pain though. He returned to Denver on Monday instead of traveling with the team to Tampa for a Tuesday night tilt against the Lightning.
Scott Wedgewood said he had heard the injury was in Landeskog’s “rib-cage area.” MacKinnon said that bones heal normally, while tendons and ligaments are scary.
The Avs will likely have more of an update on the captain’s status Tuesday.
“Our hearts go out to them, especially with what Landeskog has gone through and how hard he had to work and the impact that he’s had on that team,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “We know, probably better than any other team in the National Hockey League the cost of losing your captain and your leader. I think that had an impact on the game.”
The Panthers have won the Eastern Conference each of the past three seasons, and are the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions. Just as Landeskog was unable to play after the Avalanche won the Cup in 2022, Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov is expected to miss all of this season with a torn ACL.
In a different universe, Barkov and Landeskog could be the captains of their rival countries at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan next month. But Barkov will not be able to play, and now an entire nation waits with baited breath to find out if Landeskog will be available or not.
“If you love the game, you follow what he’s had to go through to get back,” Maurice said. “You’re also very aware of how important he is to that team. They were a contending team every year without their captain, but they had two regulation losses coming into (Sunday night). I’m just hopeful that it is short term.
“He’s been through enough. He’s too important to the game of hockey. We need him on the ice.”
For the Avalanche, this is the most adversity of the season to date. Colorado has played stretches without goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood and forward Valeri Nichushkin, but Devon Toews and Landeskog are now both going to “miss some time,” according to Avs coach Jared Bednar.
The Avs won’t have Landeskog, Toews, Blackwood or Joel Kiviranta against the Lightning. When this road trip started, the Avs had 14 players who had appeared in every game. That’s the most in the NHL this season.
It will be 12 when the puck drops in Tampa. And they are missing three integral pieces of what has been the most dominant team in the league this season.
“You go back on … last year,” goalie Wedgewood said. “It’s next guy up mentality. It’s hard to do with the presence that he brings. But I don’t think it’s a three-year thing, knock on wood. It’s unfortunate, but we know how to play our game as a team.
“Guys have been moving up and down the lineup already this year. It’s a couple setbacks right now, but I think we led the league in guys missed last year so there’s some experience with that. We obviously can’t replace his shoes, but we’ll do what we can to keep winning hockey games and wait for him to return.”
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