“I am expecting myself to take another step,” the 33-year-old captain told NHL.com during a recent interview. “I’ve had a great summer. There’s a huge difference from 12 months ago.”
Not to mention six years ago.
It was in the bubble in Edmonton on Aug. 30, 2020 -- when the NHL staged the Stanley Cup Playoffs in a controlled environment amid the COVID-19 pandemic -- when one of Colorado defenseman Cale Makar's skate blades cut Landeskog's right knee during a game.
Thus began a saga that became the subject of a docuseries.
Long story short: Landeskog played through pain, hoisted the Stanley Cup in 2022 and sat out three seasons. He dealt with surgeries and setbacks, and he considered retiring.
Finally, the forward made a triumphant return during the 2025 playoffs, playing his first game in 1,032 days. He became the fifth player to play at least 700 games and return after an absence of 1,000 days or more, following Jim Peplinski (2,000), Mario Lemieux (1,341), Uwe Krupp (1,036) and Peter Forsberg (1,018), according to NHL Stats.
He had four points (one goal, three assists) in five playoff games that year. He had 35 points (14 goals, 21 assists) in 60 games last season, then 11 points (six goals, five assists) in 13 games during the playoffs.
Though the knee will always need maintenance, it has improved significantly.
“It’s not anybody’s healthy knee,” Landeskog said. “But it’s pretty close to it, and the more time passes, the stronger I get.”
The question is how many games Landeskog can play and how productive he can be. In 2021-22, before his three-season absence, he had 59 points (30 goals, 29 assists) in 51 regular-season games and 22 points (11 goals, 11 assists) in 20 playoff games.
“I’m very excited to feel this good, and I just want to continue to build my game,” Landeskog said. “And there were times when we would see it last year. But I’m excited to consistently get better as a player.”
This comes at a time when the Avalanche are trying to get back to where they were in 2022 as a team too.
They lost to the Seattle Kraken in seven games in the Western Conference first round in 2023, the Dallas Stars in six games in the second round in 2024 and the Stars in seven games in the first round in 2025.
Last season, they posted the best record in Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques history and won the Presidents’ Trophy as the NHL’s top regular-season team, going 55-16-11 (.738 points percentage). They ranked first in goals (3.63) and goals against (2.40) per game.
They returned to the Western Conference Final looking unstoppable after sweeping the Los Angeles Kings in the first round and defeating the Minnesota Wild in five games in the second round, only to get swept by the Vegas Golden Knights.
Makar, one of the NHL’s best players, missed the first two games of the series with a lower-body injury and wasn’t himself in the last two. Landeskog said that was “a big part of it, for sure.” But it wasn’t all of it.
“Every time you don’t win, if you’re looking for excuses, you’re going to find them, no problem,” Landeskog said. “You can find them, and every team can find them.
“I just chalk it up to as we picked the worst time to play our worst hockey of the season. We had found ways to win hockey games all season long, and in those four games, we found ways to lose hockey games. It’s as simple as that.
“What those factors were and what those reasons were, yeah, we could discuss those and whatnot. But at the end of the day, we just didn’t play good enough in those games to win, and that’ll lead to a more hungry, more desperate, more inspired Avalanche team this year. I have no doubt.”
It will be a long regular season -- especially now that the NHL has gone from 82 games to 84 -- until Colorado can try to play its best hockey when it matters most again. The Avalanche open against the Kings at Ball Arena in Denver on Sept. 30 (10 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, truTV, TNT).
But Landeskog said coach Jared Bednar does a great job of keeping the mindset and objectives fresh, breaking the season into segments and challenging players to improve in certain areas.
“Do you care about the regular season? Not really,” Landeskog said. “But you care about the playoffs. That’s all that matters. You have to build your game. You can’t just get to the playoffs, limp into the playoffs, and say, ‘OK, let’s the flip the switch.’ That’s hard to do as well. So you have to build it, and as a group, find different ways and methods.”
And then there is the lesson Landeskog has learned from his injury.
Listen to what he said about visiting the Utah Mammoth in the Discover NHL Winter Classic at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Dec. 31 (6 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, truTV, TNT, TVAS). It will be his fourth NHL outdoor game, but it will be the first for some of his teammates. His kids are 7, 5 and 1 ½, and he can share it with them.
“Since coming back last year, I don’t take anything for granted,” he said, “so I’m really excited for the whole experience.”
