‘You never know if you’re ever going to get the chance again’: Avalanche’s Landeskog on missing Stanley Cup Final
The Colorado Avalanche saw their season come to an end on Tuesday night in a 2-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights that capped off a four-game sweep at the hands of the 2023 Stanley Cup champions.
For a team that coasted to the Presidents’ Trophy, cruised through the first two rounds of the playoffs, and entered the Western Conference Final as a sizable favorite, the result is shocking to say the least.
For captain Gabriel Landeskog, the outcome was a reminder of how thin the margins can be in the NHL between victory and crushing defeat, and how much of a challenge it is to stay on the right side of that line for a whole year.
“You never know if you’re ever going to get the chance again,” Landeskog told the media after the loss. “That’s what hurts. It’s hard making the playoffs, and it’s hard winning one round and two rounds, let alone going all the way. You never know what the next opportunity is going to look like… I think for us, believing in this group, believe in the guys that we have in this organization, and we’ll give ourselves the best chance possible come year after year.”
🗣️Gabriel Landeskog: "At the end of the day you've gotta give those guys credit." #goavsgo | Powered by: @TheRamosLawFirm
The 2025-26 season was an emotional one for Colorado’s Swedish captain. After returning for part of the playoffs in 2025, Landeskog resumed a full-time role in the team’s lineup for the first time since the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs, as a knee injury and subsequent complications cost him three full regular seasons.
“I think at the end of the day, if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the last handful of years, it’s [when] you get knocked down, you just get right back up,” Landeskog said. “I think that’s the only way to do it.”
The No. 2 overall pick from the 2011 NHL Draft showed all year that he still has plenty of good hockey left in the tank. Landeskog put up 35 points in 60 regular season games before elevating his game in the playoffs, scoring 6 goals and dishing out 5 assists for 11 points in 13 games while many of his teammates struggled to find the back of the net.
To Landeskog’s point, after a 121-point regular season and off four straight years of postseason disappointments, an aging Avalanche core will look to rev back up for next season and give it another go in a Western Conference that only promises to get tougher.