The Colorado Avalanche are desperately trying to maximize their star-studded core of Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Maker and others, but injuries and other roster turnover have left them in an interesting spot.
The Avalanche have lost a lot of the depth from their Stanley Cup-winning team in 2022. In January, they traded star winger Mikko Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes after the two sides were unable to come to an agreement on a new contract. with Rantanen set to hit free agency, the Avalanche wanted to move off of him before he walked away with nothing coming back to Denver.
Another huge piece of that Cup run was captain Gabriel Landeskog. Landeskog hasn’t played since the Avalanche won that Stanley Cup due to a knee injury that hasn’t gotten back to where he needs to be. On Monday, general manager Chris MacFarland provided an update that Avalanche fans have gotten all too familiar with, per Evan Rawal of the Denver Gazette.
“I don’t for-see (a return) in the next day or two, or week or two here,” MacFarland said, per Rawal. “I think you guys can figure out where this is kind of going.”
Landeskog has been receiving these kinds of vague updates for multiple years now, but he has never actually gotten very close to playing. MacFarland did say that the captain has a chance to get back in time for the playoffs, but even that feels like wishful thinking in Denver right now.
The Avalanche are currently in a relatively safe spot in the playoff picture. They are in fourth place in the Central Division but have a healthy lead as the first wild card in the Western Conference, so it appears that they will get a crack at the postseason barring a terrible collapse. If Landeskog is able to make it back and look like his old self, Colorado certainly has the talent to make some noise.
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