Is Landeskog’s return causing a disturbance for Colorado Avalanche?

The Colorado Avalanche finally recalled their captain, Gabriel Landeskog, after over 1,000 days away from the game. This return has sent shockwaves throughout the social media landscape. Everyone who has a heart for hockey is rejoicing that no. 92 is back on the ice after that bizarre and dangerous injury. 

But, has this return been a disturbance for the Avalanche, who are down 2-1 to the Dallas Stars in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Did this ruin the Avs chances, by either publicity or trying to fit in a player that has not played in over three years? 

Let’s discuss. 

The wrong time 

One thing to consider with this situation is whether this was the right time for Landeskog to return. The Avalanche used this tactic to get their captain, under contract for $7 million on the long-term injured reserve cap, back in without penalty. But should they have gotten him up to game speed during the regular season, not even for his sake but for his linemates around him? 

It is hard enough to come back from a few games of injury, but for three years, it’s incredible that he has come back after that. It is one thing if he was not ready to go up until this playoff series, but if he was ready to go a few weeks ago, in those last 5-10 games that didn’t really have much meaning due to the playoffs being essentially locked up, why not give him the reps then. Throwing him into the gauntlet right now could be a recipe for disaster. 

Impact thus far

In the third game of this first-round series against Dallas, Landeskog had 13:06 of ice time but did not register a point in the 2-1 overtime loss. He sat out games one and two. 

Landeskog is anticipated to be in for game four on Saturday night, and this will be the true test. The Avalanche cannot afford to go back to Texas down three games to one. The rest of this series rests on the shoulders of the captain.