2026 Winter Olympics
Avs Coach Says Landeskog’s Olympic Participation Not In Jeopardy
Necas also expected to be healthy for Czechia
The Avalanche’s captain, who will likely also don the ‘C’ for Sweden, is not going to miss the Olympics.
Gabe Landeskog has been out for nearly a month for Colorado since suffering an upper-body injury in Florida. Landeskog crashed into the goal post in Florida while battling for a loose puck between the hashmarks.
Despite the lengthy rehab, it doesn’t sound like Landeskog’s participation in the upcoming Winter Olympics is in jeopardy.
“No, I don’t think it is, no,” Avs head coach Jared Bednar said.
READ MORE: Landeskog to Captain Team Sweden at Winter Olympics?
The Avs’ last game is on Wednesday, which is a full week before Sweden plays its first Olympic game.
“I would say it’s unlikely Gabe plays Wednesday. He’s pushing the timeline pretty tight,” Bednar said. “He obviously skated with the group again today, doing more and more in the gym, and feeling really good.
“If they were playing games on Friday already, they’d be like, well, maybe we should get him in a game to make sure he’s good to go. With the amount of time before they actually start playing competitive games over there, I think it’s probably one of those where you’re like, if you’re not ready on Wednesday, you can still be ready to start the Olympics.”
Landeskog stuck around the entire time for Monday’s morning skate. He skated early with Devon Toews before changing into a red non-contact sweater to join the rest of his teammates. Landeskog seemed to be moving well and looked like he’s ramped up his training quite a bit.
Monday night’s matchup against the Detroit Red Wings will be the 13th consecutive game without Landeskog. He has seven goals and 22 points in 41 games.
The Avs also will not have Martin Necas, who was a late scratch on Saturday in Detroit with an upper-body injury. Bednar said he’s hopeful that Necas could return Wednesday. Whether he does or not, his Olympic participation is not in jeopardy either.
Oh good, they can play in the Olympics but not for us. Cool!
There’s a reason that they call this “the show”. As Jerry Seinfeld once said, “we are rooting for laundry” they are playing for money and thus the Olympics are different to them.
Have you heard anything more about LOC? He’s a full 2 months past his expected return date. I would think that a “soft tissue” injury would rehab in that period of time. Are we looking at Gabe part 2?
I think we’re likely a long ways from Gabe Part 2. Landy was out for three years, we’re only into about 4-5 months with Loki so far.
Actually 8 months, and the point of the question was regarding the beginning of the Landy saga, not the end. It’s great that the question was finally addressed by Aariff and Coach Bednar.
The whole soft tissue thing was always nonsense. It has to be complications from the hip procedure. If this were unrelated to the hip, to your point why would he still be out? Non – contact injuries unless it’s some sort of freak thing or an ACL don’t take anywhere close to this long a recovery. It’s typical obfuscation from the Avs regarding an injury.
I can’t believe there hasn’t been word one about LOC in months.