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Landeskog on life during NHL pause due to COVID-19 pandemic

March 31, 2020, 7:28 PM ET [0 Comments]
Rick Sadowski
Colorado Avalanche Blogger •Avalanche Insider • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog took part in a Central Division video conference call arranged by the NHL on Tuesday, along with Dallas’ Jamie Benn, Minnesota’s Zach Parise, and Winnipeg’s Blake Wheeler.

Landeskog is in Toronto with his wife Melissa and their five-month-old daughter, playing fulltime dad during the NHL pause as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

"We're doing good and seem to have been lucky,” he said. “It's one of those things where you don't know how serious it was going to be when the news came out that the league was on pause, and I'm sure it was up to everybody at that point to kind of quarantine themselves.

“You definitely get an appreciation of what the wives and girlfriends are going through when we're on the road, but it's been fun being a fulltime dad for a change.”

The Avalanche last played March 11, a 3-2 overtime win against the New York Rangers at the Pepsi Center.

They were 42-20-8 with 12 games remaining – two points behind St. Louis for the Western Conference and Central Division leads with a game in hand – when the season stopped. They were originally scheduled to close out the regular season this Saturday against the Blues at home with the Stanley Cup playoffs starting the following week.

Now, who knows when -- or if -- the season will resume.

“I'm sure it's frustrating for everybody right now, but this has been probably the first time in the nine years I've been in Denver that we felt really confident about the group and actually feeling like you had a shot at (the Stanley Cup)," Landeskog said.

“We're dealing with a lot of injuries, but guys were starting to come back, so (the pause) came at a bad time. Some people will say it came at a good time because they allow us to be healthy, to come back and be healthy, but we don't know how long (this is) going to last. We were finding different ways to win hockey games. We were just gearing up for a playoff run, and then this happened.”

Landeskog said he's been in contact with his two unnamed teammates who tested positive for the virus.

"From the conversations I've had, they are recovering well," he said.

Landeskog said he’s been keeping busy by working out in a basement gym he built last summer, and by playing cards and Yahtzee with his family.

"I hope everyone is staying healthy and staying at home, doing what you can with social distancing and taking this seriously," he said. "If we do, hopefully we can stop the spread and get back on the ice.

"Usually, when the world or country is going through a tough time or something happens, whether it's a natural catastrophe or whatever it might be, we as athletes have an ability to give people a break in their day and allow them to kind of get away from the real world for a couple of hours and cheer for their favorite team.

"We don't have that anymore, but hopefully everyone can stay positive and we can be back soon."

*****

Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon finished a distant third in two categories – best forward and one player to win one game regardless of position – in the National Hockey League Players’ Association player poll.

Edmonton’s Connor McDavid and Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby finished 1-2 in the first category, with Crosby beating out McDavid in the second category.

Here are the POLL RESULTS

Players from each of the 31 teams – 558 players in all -- were asked anonymously to answer more than 20 questions on a variety of on- and off-ice topics.



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