The burden of being Avalanche captain took quite a toll on
Gabriel Landeskog this season, his fifth while wearing the "C."
"You can't ever forget about a season like this," he said. "It won't go away and it shouldn't go away."
Colorado finished 22-56-4, good for 48 points, by far its worst full season since arriving in Denver in 1995. The Avalanche's previous worst non-lockout record came in 2010-11 (30-44-8, 68 points). The 2012-13 team went 16-25-7 for 39 points in 48 games.
"We all go through different things throughout the year, we all go through tough stretches," Landeskog said. "Being the captain, you have the responsibility to stand and talk about it a lot of nights, but that's part of the job. You take some of the credit when you win and you take some of the credit when you lose.
"If anything, when you're losing, as a captain you take it more personal and you bring it home with you more than you otherwise would. I found that throughout the course of the season I found it challenging at times. For me personally, I was trying to find ways to get through this and finding ways to try and lead this team.
"I said from Day One I'm never going to be the perfect captain, I just want to try and grow and keep my ears open and ask a lot of questions and try to figure things out. We've never been through anything like this. When I accepted the 'C' and became captain of this organization, we knew there were going to be challenges ahead. You always have to keep grinding and keep your head up and stay positive. That's what I tried to do."
Not counting the 2012-13 lockout season when he had nine goals and 17 points in 36 games, Landeskog's 18 goals and 33 points in 72 games this season were his lowest in the NHL.
"It was hard, a challenge every single day, but this is our job, this is what we do," said Landeskog, who won the Calder Trophy in 2011-12 and had career highs in 2013-14 with 26 goals and 65 points in 81 games.
"If you couldn't come to the rink with a fresh mindset and a positive attitude and didn't work your tail off, you're in the wrong business," he said. "It's been a test like we haven't seen before in trying to find ways to get better as a group and find ways to win hockey games.
"You go through so many ups and downs in the season -- especially this year with so many downs -- you have to look at yourself and find ways to motivate yourself, find ways to say things to the group to motivate the group.
"You're still the leader of this dressing room, they look up to you and they look for answers. I just tried to be that guy that they know is going to be going every night, that's going to show up every night, have a positive mindset and work as hard as I can."
Landeskog realizes that plenty of changes where take place before next season and that his name will be mentioned again in trade rumors.
"I want to be here to try and figure this thing out," he said. "I want to be here and help build this thing. This is truly rock bottom, I don't think you can get further down than this. This has to be a motivational season for everybody in terms of not wanting to ever go through this again.
"I'm sure there'll be some changes this summer. Who knows who'll be here and who won't, but I think this team has a bright future. It looks rough right now after a season like this, but I'm a glass full kind of guy and have always tried to look at the positive of things."
*****
Forward
Mikko Rantanen will play for Finland in the IIHF World Championships. He led the Avalanche with 20 goals and finished with 38 points in 75 games.
Defenseman
Tyson Barrie, forwards
Matt Duchene and
Nathan MacKinnon, and goalie
Calvin Pickard will play for Canada.
Colorado Avalanche Blogger •Avalanche Insider • 
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