Avs captain Gabriel Landeskog has ‘green light’ to play in Olympics

Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog has had quite the injury journey over the last few years.

Luckily, while this latest chapter was serious, Landeskog has avoided the worst-case scenario.

Landeskog isn’t playing for Colorado tonight against the San Jose Sharks, but has the “green light” to play in the Olympics next week. He’s reportedly the captain for Team Sweden, with them having preliminary round games on Feb. 11, Feb. 13 and Feb 14.

Landeskog has the green light for Milan. Which is amazing given the concern last month when he was injured. https://t.co/DyXvUlM2rE

— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) February 4, 2026

Landeskog hasn’t suited up for the Avalanche since a scary collision on Florida on Jan. 4 against the Panthers. He went crashing into the goalposts hard, hitting his ribs and suffering an upper-body injury.

Luckily, this has nothing to do with all those knee surgeries that kept him out the last three regular seasons before returning to the Avalanche in the playoffs last year. In 41 games played, Landeskog has seven goals and 15 assists, good for 22 points.

And while Colorado missed the player, there’s no question they missed the leader. The Avs have won just one playoff series since hoisting the Stanley Cup in 2022, which is when Landeskog gutted through it then underwent multiple additional knee surgeries.

Of course, fans might be a little nervous with him playing in the Olympics. But injuries can happen at any given time, so this is an extra three to seven games of keeping our fingers crossed, depending on how far Team Sweden advances.

The stretch run for the Avalanche will follow as the NHL pauses for a couple of week. Colorado will look to get back some incredible momentum they had earlier this season and finish strong in March and the early part of April before another playoff journey begins.

Knock on wood, Landeskog should be in the mix for all that.

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