Bednar doesn’t know if Landeskog can return to elite form with Avalanche

“And am I a little bit concerned? Yeah,” Bednar said Wednesday. “I mean, he hasn’t played all year. Do I think that he can easily come out of this and be fine? Yeah, I mean, he’s putting in the work. So, only time will tell. You just don’t know.”

Bednar said the surgery Landeskog had in October was unrelated to the knee surgery he had on March 21, 2022. Landeskog missed 23 games but came back to help the Avalanche win the Stanley Cup, playing 20 playoff games. He had 22 points (11 goals, 11 assists) and led Colorado with a plus-15 rating.

The decision to have the surgery last March was so Landeskog could perform at his best in the playoffs. He played an NHL career-low 51 regular-season games. The 30-year-old, who is Avalanche captain, was frequently absent from morning skates during the playoffs in an effort to manage his recovery.

“Yeah, it was just bothering him though, so he got it fixed,” Bednar said. “Yeah, good timing to get it fixed. He didn’t want it bothering him through playoffs. So, when he had that surgery, he was like, ‘I can fix this.'”

There is still no timetable for Landeskog’s return this season for an Avalanche team trying to repeat as Cup champs. “He’s missed a long time; I don’t know,” Bednar said. “It’s a slow-moving process for him, so we’ve just got to take it day by day. And he continues to do the work to push to try to get back and help our team.”

Landeskog returned to Denver in mid-February and has been skating since. He was on the ice for 50 minutes Wednesday before Colorado held an optional practice.

Bednar also said that the most recent surgery Landeskog has no correlation to the one he had in March.

“I’m sure it didn’t help, but it’s unrelated,” Bednar said.

Landeskog has 571 points (248 goals, 323 assists) in 738 NHL regular-season games, and 67 points (27 goals, 40 assists) in 69 playoff games.