“I still thought I’d be fine,” Gabriel Landeskog out of 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, NHL Twitter reacts
The defending Stanley Cup champions will be without their captain Gabriel Landeskog as they prepare for the 2023 race.
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Gabriel Landeskog [Image Credit: Mile High Sports]
Colorado Avalanche captain, Gabriel Landeskog stated that he’ll sit out of the 2023 Stanley Cup playoff race as his knee injury still hasn’t gotten better. He underwent knee surgery after he led the team to its first Stanley Cup victory in ages.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t play properly in the 2022-23 season and had to sit out for a major amount of time. At the time of surgery back in October 2022, Landeskog was expected to be sidelined for 12 weeks, but it transitioned into months, and now without a definitive return date.
The Avs captain stated on Thursday, “I still thought I’d be fine, ready to go after the summer (2022). Obviously a very short summer (winning the Stanley Cup). I realized fairly quickly that things had gotten worse… I thought I was going to be able to play the second half of the season.”
“We’ve given it our best shot and it just hasn’t worked out. Moving forward we continue to explore options. But I felt like this was the decision I had to make at this point for everybody involved and for my teammates and myself.”
Gabriel Landeskog motivates the team for the upcoming Stanley Cup race
![Gabriel Landeskog [Image Credit: The Rink]](https://firstsportz.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Untitled-design-12-12-1024x768.png)
Prior to the 2022 Stanley Cup playoff, Gabriel Landeskog underwent knee surgery on March 21. He missed 23 games in the regular season and was expected to miss playoffs, but the captain returned to his team, helping them to win the Cup race.
He scored 22 points in 20 playoff games with 11 goals and 11 assists and a plus-15 rating. After his recent October surgery, he is still not sure if he wants to go for another. Landeskog said with confidence that there’s no doubt he’ll be back on the ice, but as of now, the timeline is not clear.
The Avalanche has been hit with a series of injuries this regular season. Defenceman Cale Makar missed out on the last 5 games due to a lower-body injury, while Josh Manson and Darren Helm remain placed on IL. Currently, the team stands in 2nd position in the Central Division with 105 points.
Gabriel Landeskog stated, that he is confident about his team, and he knows they’ll do well to secure another Stanley Cup victory. “There’s a lot of champions in there. Majority of the guys were there (last season), and they know what to expect.”
“I think that’s the advantage you have after having gone through it, is you know what to expect every step of the way. Will things be difficult and hard? Absolutely, as it should be.”
Landeskog now wants to be just there for the team and support them as they dive for another Cup race. There are still players from the previous year’s victory, so they’ll lead the team well, according to the captain. They’ve got “the drive to do it again.”
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Kaushani Chatterjee
(2173 Articles Published)