Listening to Gabe Landeskog talk about learning to walk again, it was impossible to run from the truth.
Landeskog would give his right knee to play for the Avalanche again. And Val Nichushkin was willing to risk everything in cratering the Avs’ postseason. Again.
The juxtaposition of the double-barreled themes at the Family Sports Center on Thursday morning was impossible to ignore. We have compassion for both, while wringing our hands about their futures.
The Dallas Stars bounced the Avs in the second round of the playoffs, a jarring result for a team that went all-in at the trade deadline. Instead of winning a second Stanley Cup in three years, the Avs are left to wonder what’s next.
It is difficult to see the Avs as champions without Landeskog and Nichushkin contributing as core pieces. There is no guarantee either will. We cannot overstate how unsettling this prospect is with Landeskog having five years left on a $56 million contract and Nichushkin two seasons into an eight-year, $49 million deal.
To even flirt with the idea that Landeskog won’t return to form is heartbreaking. He is the Avs’ Walt Whitman, “O Captain! My Captain! Rise up and hear the bells; Rise up — for you the flag is flung — for you the bugle trills.”
Landeskog has missed the last two seasons after undergoing cartilage replacement in his right knee. There was speculation Thursday would serve as a retirement press conference, an idea squashed when he walked in wearing workout gear. Still, there is no example of a professional athlete returning from this injury.
The 31-year-old called his rehab this season without playing “a slow form of torture.”
Landeskog remains committed to a fluid process: He is 12-plus months into an estimated 18-month timeline to return. He has been forced to take solace in micro steps, grinding through gruesome pain to advance from bearing weight on his leg to skating under control over the last several weeks.
“You realize it’s going to be a long road,” Landeskog said.
But even as Landeskog describes his recovery, there is no defeat in his voice, no blank stare in his eyes or emptiness in words. Sitting a few feet from Landeskog, you can see his passion for a game he has played for the last 27 years oozing from his pores. He closes his eyes and sees himself back on the ice for the fans, his teammates, the organization and his family — wife, Melissa, daughter, Linnea, and son, Lucas.
“I love hockey,” Landeskog said. “I have two young kids who are 3 and 4 who were 2 1/2 and 1 1/2 when we won the Cup, and that was the last time they saw me play. Last night my son slept with his hockey jersey on. He slept with his stick and his gloves. Honestly, one of the main motivations for me is to ultimately be able to one day look back at all this craziness I went through for years and overcome it.”
The hard part, given the salary cap suffocating the Avs, is that Colorado doesn’t just need Landeskog back. They need him all the way back as a star, not just a guy.
General manager Chris MacFarland explained that Landeskog has earned the right “to take as much time as it takes.”
The same does not necessarily apply to Nichushkin. Nor should it. It’s too soon to predict what the future holds, but MacFarland said it is “plausible” that Nichushkin plays for the Avs again and that termination is not currently an option. Nichushkin is serving a six-month suspension for violating terms of the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program. He must follow the protocol for reinstatement in November. And even if he does, how can the Avs trust him?
“I think it’s hard,” MacFarland said. “There’s not a member of our organization that doesn’t want Val to get stuff right so he can be in a good place.”
Landeskog humanized the story. Nichushkin, he reminded, is a teammate, a friend, a champion. But, he admitted, “What happens to him moving forward, it’s up to him on how he’s going to handle it.”
What we are watching feels so different. There is a man in Landeskog fighting for his career with every shred of his being. And there is a man in Nichushkin in a public position battling to save his NHL career in private.
It feels uncomfortable having opinions on these stakes, wondering if either will ever suit up for the Avs again. But pro sports are as sentimental as a traffic ticket. They wait for no one.
Landeskog wants this so badly, it’s hard not to want it for him. We want Nichushkin healthy, but when he is, it is time to move on without him.
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