DENVER — Gabriel Landeskog is returning to the Colorado Avalanche after participating in a two-game minor-league rehab assignment.
The team announced on Tuesday that the captain`s conditioning loan to the American Hockey League’s Colorado Eagles has been terminated. He played games for them on Friday and Saturday as part of his progress towards recovering from a knee injury that required two surgeries and caused him to miss the past two seasons.
On Saturday, Landeskog scored his first professional goal in nearly three years during the second game of his conditioning stint.
Landeskog, 32, has not played in the NHL since winning the Stanley Cup in late June 2022. The Swedish forward could be activated as soon as the end of the regular season to play this weekend in Game 1 of the Avalanche’s first-round playoff series against the Dallas Stars.
His return is a major boost for Colorado, especially given the difficult path through the Western Conference.
Landeskog last played an NHL game on June 26, 2022 – 1023 days ago.
Tristan Blackwood