Avalanche's Gabe Landeskog to have another knee surgery, expected to miss 2023-24 season
May 9—Colorado Avalanche captain Gabe Landeskog is considering all options on his long road back from a knee cartilage injury — except for one.
He's not hanging up his skates for good.
"I have not contemplated retirement at all, to be honest with you," Landeskog said in a Tuesday teleconference call with Avalanche media. "It's just been a matter of finding the best path forward for me. Identifying the problem and then figuring out a solution. That's how you approach everything in life, I think. This is no different.
"Until I've exhausted every option, I'm going to just keep pushing forward."
The next step is Wednesday with Landeskog undergoing surgery, a cartilage transplant in his right knee, with Dr. Brian Cole at the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, the team announced Tuesday. He is expected to miss the 2023-24 season. This will be his third procedure to address a 2020 postseason injury.
A skate blade from teammate Cale Makar sliced Landeskog's leg just below his right knee against the Dallas Stars. It led him to miss all of last season and the playoffs. Landeskog last played on June 26, 2022, in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals.
Landeskog said the success rate of the surgery is around 85 percent. He'll take those odds.
"Is it going to be a long road? Yeah. But motivating factors are plenty," Landeskog said. "Watching our team this year has been very motivating. There's been so many times where I just wish I could tie up the skates and go out there to play with them. I know that time will come. I just have to do what's right for my health, and ultimately, do what I can so I'm able to go out there and play with the guys.
"Continue chasing more Stanley Cups."
Landeskog didn't come to this decision lightly and said he's "done more studying in the last month than I have since high school." It was imperative for Landeskog to arrive at a decision quickly to give the front office direction in re-tooling the roster this offseason. So, Landeskog sought the expertise from medical experts and fellow pro athletes — including Chicago Bulls guard Lonzo Ball — to decide his next steps.
Ball underwent a similar cartilage transplant surgery in March after a familiar string of failed comeback attempts to play.
"I've been able to talk a little bit with him. He's had a similar last 14 months that I've had with a couple of minor procedures and things like that," Landeskog said of Ball. "I'm confident. It's an injury that hard to rehab. ... Once the injury is done, and there's enough damage in there, it's sort of hard to patch the holes without going through this procedure."
The Avalanche can move ahead with much-needed clarity on Landeskog's status and an additional $7 million in available cap space in his absence. General manager Chris MacFarland wouldn't specify his strategy in roster re-tooling but said "everything will be on the table for us to improve" during his portion of Tuesday's teleconference call.
"That will include both short- and long-term types of players. If there is a player that we could potentially add that has term, and he fits what we're trying to do, from an age standpoint and it makes sense, we'll find a way to make it work," MacFarland said. "If it's more shorter-term deals, we'll certainly have the ability to strike on that. We're early in the process of that with our scouting meetings here coming up shortly on the pro side. With the combine and the draft, things will potentially crystallize."
Landeskog is grateful for the support he's been given from his family, the organization and Avalanche fans.
"It's something that means a lot to me and has really helped throughout this whole process," Landeskog said. "Being around the team over the past two or three months has been huge for myself. To feel like you're a part of that team. It really has been great, and that support is something that I'm going to continue leaning on over the next year still. ... I'm confident that I'm going to get there."
