Avs captain Gabriel Landeskog taking it slow, but seems optimistic about playoffs

Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog has officially returned.

That happened in an AHL game with the Colorado Eagles on Friday night, a 2-0 win for the home team in Loveland.

And while what happened on the ice was important — Landeskog looked pretty good in his 15 shifts — fans were mostly curious to hear from their beloved captain. After all, he hadn’t played competitive hockey since June 26, 2022, the night the Avs won their third Stanley Cup.

After a grueling recovery from multiple knee surgeries that lasted more than 1,000 days, Landeskog was back. He played hard, physical and even put an opponent in a headlock at one point. This was a monumental moment.

Still, what did the captain think? He answered that and more in a lengthy media session at Blue Arena after nearly all of the Denver media flooded up North for the occasion.

The short answer is things went quite well.

“Physically I feel great… it was a lot of fun,” – all smiles from Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog. He is beaming at the podium. Hugely positive sign. pic.twitter.com/gnjuICcvow

— Will Petersen (@PetersenWill) April 12, 2025

First of all, it’s huge that Gabriel Landeskog felt good after the game. He estimated he played around 15 minutes — and that was a big accomplishment.

But the question on everyone’s mind is if Landeskog will play in the postseason for the Avalanche? That gets going late next week, either April 19 or 20, so the clock is ticking.

He was careful with his answers, but as they went on, there was a sense of optimism that this is trending in the right direction. Here are a handful of his best responses.

Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog takes the time to thank a ton of people after his first hockey game in nearly three years. You can tell family, friends, teammates mean the world to him. pic.twitter.com/5Y7QuxFVIv

— Will Petersen (@PetersenWill) April 12, 2025

Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog is going to stay in the moment in terms of what’s next. He wants to see how his body feels tomorrow. But really introspective answer here about the days turning into weeks and months and eventually years. pic.twitter.com/Mm6KNGiNQZ

— Will Petersen (@PetersenWill) April 12, 2025

Gabriel Landeskog has high expectations for himself but also wants to stay realistic. He was pleased with his nearly 15 minutes of ice time. No declarations if he can play in the postseason for the Avalanche, but things are still trending correctly. pic.twitter.com/patWhcEd50

— Will Petersen (@PetersenWill) April 12, 2025

They key takeaway from all three of those answers is Gabriel Landeskog isn’t totally sure if he’ll be out there for Round 1, Game 1 against (likely) the Dallas Stars.

At the same time, his knee seems good. How Landeskog wakes up feeling on Saturday will be huge, but there were no obvious signs he overdid it or he’s worried about how it will respond.

For Landeskog, this has been an insane journey. One in which, as you can tell from his answers above, he was never sure he’d complete.

Well, he did to some extent, and the next step is an NHL game. We’ll see if that happens in eight or nine days against the Stars in Dallas, but it seems like that has a solid chance of coming to fruition. A second Stanley Cup would be the storybook ending to an unbelievable comeback.

It was a great night for Avalanche fans, and most importantly, it was a great night for Gabriel Landeskog.