Landeskog "Nowhere Close" To Returning; Does This Mean an LTIR Maneuver Is In Cards?

If it is, Avalanche will need to prove it

It came as something of a shock when Jared Bednar said today that Avalanche captain Gabe Landeskog is “nowhere close” to returning to the lineup.

Landeskog, 30, had arthroscopic knee surgery on Oct. 18 in Minnesota. The team said at the time that he was expected to miss 12 weeks. Those three months will elapse in 16 days.

Jared Bednar is not only a great coach, but a very, very honest guy and there’s no way he’s going to try and con the media on anything. No, he’s not going to reveal every little inner secret about the team to us ink-stained wretches, especially when it comes to injuries, but I take what he says - when he publicly says it - as gospel.

So, trying to extrapolate Bednar-speak a little here, I’m going to guess we’re a good couple months away from even hoping for Landeskog to be back in an Avalanche uniform in a real game. I think Bednar absolutely would tell us a firm timeline on a Landy return, but I don’t think he even knows it. Well, I’m sure he knows more than you or me on it, but if he had good news on his captain, I know Bednar well enough to know he would have told it. But here’s what I know on all this: