The Colorado Avalanche announced that winger Gabriel Landeskog will miss the rest of the season with an upper-body injury. If they can manage to make playoffs it is possible Landeskog could return at some point.
Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog will miss 4-6 weeks with an upper-body injury. There are about four weeks left in the regular season. Colorado is four points out of a playoff spot. Landeskog has 33 goals and 69 points, both career highs. This is brutal news for the Avalanche.
— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) March 8, 2019
Gabriel Landeskog Injured
Landeskog left the game last night halfway through the third period. The injury occurred when Landeskog backed into Dallas Stars goaltender Ben Bishop. It looked like Landeskog extended his arm but the Avs are only calling it an upper-body injury.
So far this season, Landeskog has scored 33 goals and 36 assists for 69 points to go along with 47 minutes in penalties. His possession numbers were 52.5 percent Corsi and a relative Corsi of 3.4 percent.
Landeskog has spent his entire eight-year career with the Colorado Avalanche. He has 176 goals and 234 assists for 410 career points in 574 career games. He was originally drafted by the Avalanche second overall in the 2011 NHL Draft.
What This Means for the Future
This is a major loss for the Avalanche as Landeskog is their captain as well as one of their top scorers. So far the Avs top line has been one of the best lines in the entire NHL this season. They currently sit four points out of the final wild-card spot in the west. The Avs did say if everything goes right he would be back in four weekends which would mean he could be ready for the playoffs if the Avs are able to clinch a spot.
Moving forward Colin Wilson will likely move up to the top line for the Avs. Wilson has scored 10 goals and 10 assists for 20 points in 51 games. With Wilson moving to the top line the Avs top line could easily still be dominant with Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. It will be interesting to see if Wilson is able to bring enough to the top line to help propel the Avs into a playoff spot.
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