The Avalanche need Gabriel Landeskog back
The Colorado Avalanche are cruising to a Presidents’ Trophy win as the NHL’s top team in the regular season after a historically torrid start to the season staked them to a lead they have not relinquished.
A big factor in their overall success has been the return of captain Gabriel Landeskog, who has re-taken a full-time role with the team for the first time since the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
But when Landeskog has missed time with injury, the Avs have not looked quite so dominant. That was the case in a 7-2 loss to Pittsburgh on Monday night, as it dropped Colorado’s record to 8-8-2 without its Swedish captain in the lineup compared to 36-4-7 when he suits up.
On Tuesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL defenseman Colby Cohen were joined by Jeff Marek, host of The Sheet, to discuss why Landeskog is so important to Colorado’s formula for success.
Jeff Marek: Here’s the thing that I see with the Avalanche. Maybe this is just too simple, but there is evidence here. This is the Avalanche without Gabriel Landeskog. Like I think that Gabriel Landeskog is one of the best leaders in the NHL, full stop. I don’t think it was a coincidence that they haven’t won the Stanley Cup since Gabriel Landeskog was injured, and they started off gangbusters as Gabriel Landeskog has now come back full time. Of course he’s injured now, but he’s expected back before the playoffs… This is gonna sound like it’s a shot at MacKinnon, and it’s not. Everyone has their own style, everyone’s their own person. But with Landeskog in the room, he is their captain. He has a certain style where everybody feels like they belong and they have their position and they’re respected doing it and everything Avalanche fits with Gabriel Landeskog there. Whether you’re a first line superstar, third pairing D, backup netminder, whatever. He doesn’t run rooms hot. He doesn’t run himself hot. He has an incredibly high standard for performance, but he doesn’t burn through a season. Nathan MacKinnon burns… Honestly, I think it’s as simple as they need Gabriel Landeskog back in that room, so there aren’t no overreactions. He’s like the ultimate release valve for tension, and that’s why I still maintain he’s one of the best captains, maybe the best captain in the entire NHL. Colby, you played, you’ve been in rooms. Am I looking at this too simplistically? Or is there something there? Because I think that this is it with the Avs.
Colby Cohen: I think Nate is such a big personality that his personality is still going to have a dominant effect on the team, but you’re right. The ultimate alpha in that room, the guy with the C, who maybe doesn’t have to yell and bark as much as MacKinnon does, he’s not there. And so I don’t think you’re oversimplifying it. I think it’s an extremely fair point, and I think that’s the reason that Landeskog wears the “C” and Nate wears the “A.” I think that management understands that. I think all the way up to ownership, and I think there’s room for both of those personalities on your team
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…