Avalanche's Gabriel Landeskog: Might return early in 2024-25

Landeskog (knee) isn't likely to be available Oct. 9 for Colorado's regular-season opener, but he might play not long after that, per Tom Gulitti of NHL.com on Saturday.

Landeskog has been skating over the summer, and while there's no timetable for his return, coach Jared Bednar said there's increasing optimism that the Avalanche captain won't have to go too deep into the 2024-25 campaign before making his season debut. Landeskog hasn't played since June 26, 2022, but before experiencing injury issues, he was an elite forward. After shaking off some rust, he could produce at about a point-per-game pace while serving in a top-six capacity and working on the first power-play unit.