Avalanche Expect Full Health Despite Makar Injury Questions After Playoff Exit
After the Colorado Avalanche were swept by the Vegas Golden Knights, injury questions around Cale Makar drew attention, but Joe Sakic says the team expects to be fully healthy next season.
Video Transcript
You know, a player who exemplifies great leadership abilities.
it feels like I've been covering Ga- Gabe Landeskog ever since he was in junior.
I think he was the first Swedish, or European-born captain, in the CHL, if not the, the OHL.
Ryan, do you have sort of a favorite or like a, a lasting memory of Gabriel Landeskog, that kinda sticks in your mind when you think of him?
Yeah, I mean, I'll leave the Colorado stuff to Drew since he's there.
I, I, I also think about back when Gabriel Landeskog was with the Kitchener Rangers.
And, you know, I j- I just remember this young man that was like so polished and, and so accomplished as a two-way player at that young age.
And, you know, I kinda joke, like sometimes Swedes speak better English than, than we do.
And, and he was, certainly one of those players.
Also, I remember, you know, just tracking him as a prospect as he was coming to Kitchener, and fun fact, if you put the name Landeskog through a, a Swedish-English translator, it means county forest, which is very whimsical.
Yeah.
but yeah, I just remember him being, you know, sort of You could see the genesis of what he was going to become: a captain, a heart and soul guy, somebody that was gonna throw hits, score goals, be a leader, and it all started in Kitchener.
Yeah.
A- and overcame just a, you know, a real nasty knee injury.
At, at some points we thought he wasn't gonna even play again, and here he is, had a full year.
Drew, you're in Colorado.
You probably get to see those, Avs play more than Ryan and I do.
You know, what, what sticks out with you when you think about, Gabe Landeskog?
I mean, to me, I was He's had an amazing, a ton of amazing moments during his career, but like that national anthem when he came back after not playing, I don't remember which game that was, the playoff specifically.
You guys might know.
I think it was either three or four.
Like they brought him back in the middle of the series.
It was their first g- I think it might've been, it might've been five actually too.
whatever game he came back, that was like one of the loudest I've ever heard an NHL building, and it was just so cool.
He had his kids on the glass, like his family.
It was really cool.
but I mean, yeah, like kinda Ryan said, I mean, I kind of known him forever, kind of.
I mean, you guys have read the stories when they told him he was gonna be captain of the NHL at 19, and he was kinda, had no idea how he was gonna go tell 37 and 38-year-olds what they should be doing and how they should be playing.
So it's been really cool to kinda just see his evolution as a player, and I think when, like I think of what an, a captain should act, play, be like as a human being, he sticks out, up there as probably the m- number one guy in the league for me.
