After 1,020 days, Gabriel Landeskog makes his long-awaited professional return

LOVELAND In another world Kevin and Jen Miller would ve walked away from Friday night richer They held six Colorado Eagles season tickets at Blue Arena sick seats as Kevin put it And suddenly those seats they d re-upped for years had become the largest part coveted cushions in town Ticket resale prices for a simple AHL meeting between the Eagles and Henderson Silver Knights broke the stratosphere Selling them though never once crossed their mind For this was the return of the Captain You can t put money Kevin commented entirely on top of seeing Landeskog Not just seeing Gabriel Landeskog Seeing history Seeing a man who d waited exactly days since he climbed the mountaintop to a Stanley Cup with the Avalanche in and then free-fell into a nightmare of knee injuries return to the competition he loved And they packed a tiny arena in Loveland full Friday night as Avalanche teammates Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar and more watched from box seats unified with a group of Avalanche faithful all hanging onto every twist of Landeskog s skate And the hero s welcome came perhaps in the unlikeliest of places the penalty box On his third shift after chants of LAN-DY had long rained upon the golden-haired forward Landeskog hooked a Silver Knight and was banished for two minutes As he sat though the in-arena announcer declared it time for a standing ovation for No And Landeskog raised a hand beaming sheepishly as a roar built in Blue I was talking to the gentleman that was sitting in the penalty box Landeskog recalled postgame with a grin And I mentioned to him that I do somehow even though it s been a long time I remember this feeling of sitting in the penalty box And it s still not a great feeling But people made it special tonight Much felt fresh again Friday on a conditioning assignment to the AHL that represented Landeskog s first professional action in nearly three years The bench The locker room The ice Landeskog as he cracked postgame forgot his pregame routine But the knee felt great as he declared to the crowd in a postgame on-ice interview and flashes of the old Landy permeated Friday He was limited to less than minutes of ice time in a period-by-period conversation with Eagles head coach Aaron Schneekloth He missed a couple makeable shots on goal and got a little frustrated with himself on the bench amid a slight lack of involvement as Landeskog recounted postgame But after several knee procedures including a cartilage surgery no NHL athlete has ever returned from Landeskog s unbridled aggressiveness was encouraging both to inhabitants and himself He drove a Henderson player into the glass on his fourth shift He launched into an all-out dive to poke the puck away shortly after And he joined a first-period dustup grabbing Henderson s Ben Hemmerling and delivering a headlock so nonchalant he looked like an older brother Been thinking about this for a long time and envisioning this and envisioning being in a competitive hockey tournament again Landeskog revealed postgame And obviously there were times when I didn t know if that was ever going to happen So it felt great being in the battle again Through those low points Landeskog waxed postgame the promotion he d felt had been incredible From his wife From teammates From players across the league And roughly miles away on a vacation in the Cayman Islands former Pittsburgh Penguins center Eric Tangradi called himself perhaps his biggest fan Tangradi once had his NHL career virtually ended by the same knee surgery Landeskog had underwent to return to the ice He knew the exact setbacks Landeskog had faced He knew rock bottom as Tangradi put it And he s followed the Avalanche forward s journey from the edge of his seat all the way through Friday s triumph Just to see him out there is a achievement Tangradi mentioned of Landeskog If he has one shift and I hope he plays the whole encounter but if he has even one shift like this is like massive success story Landeskog had shifts definitely And the forward didn t specifically pinpoint a timetable or plan for his return to the Avalanche as the playoffs loom but repeatedly emphasized postgame that he felt good and that he d see what the future looks like And as he made his way off the ice Friday night the chants of LAN-DY lingered long in Blue Arena serenading a new chapter for the Captain I never thought this was ever going to get to this point and get this big and get this much attention Landeskog stated And that was never my intention I just trying to fight my way back And here we are