Gabriel Landeskog participates in full Avs practice for first time in 995 days

I think it needs to be cut and dry. No room for loop holes. No room for teams to take advantage of it. I think if you finish the season on LTIR you should be ineligible for the playoffs. If your team thinks you might be able to play come playoff time then they need to take you off LTIR before the season ends. You don't need to play in any games. But your team should need to be cap compliant to end the season.
Look, you can hate the rule all you want. I get it, I do too. It's been exploited egregiously. But this isn't one of those cases.

The other scenario is that the Avs subtract from their roster at the deadline and create 7M in cap space to activate Landeskog. A realistic outcome of this is that Landeskog plays 10 games, and then realizes he can't go on. Now the Avs are left with 7M in dead cap space and a worse roster all because there was a chance Landeskog could suit up for a few games. That's the better route in your eyes? The rule literally exists for a scenario like this.

And it's not the LTIR rule you're mad at, it's the fact that teams don't have a salary cap come playoff time. That can be adjusted, and maybe it's a %. But instead of go into depth about all the possible contingencies the NHL just has a blanket rule that allows for maximum roster flexibility at the most important time of the year.
 
Keep telling yourself it’s different. It’s exactly the same.
Yup, sure. Like I said, the only people that would say this are those with an agenda.

No. It's not.
But if he's in the lineup game 1?
Come on.
That's a bit convenient.
Yeah, it is. However I’d argue that it would be even more convenient for a player who hasn’t played in 2 1/2 years to get some games in before the real deal. He’s obviously not ready yet and now they have to hold him out until the playoffs unless injuries occur, and even then I still truly don’t think he’s ready or capable yet.

So sure, maybe he could be ready to play before the playoffs but it will be close, and someone who hasn’t been able to play in that length with an unknown timeline is not a comparable to someone who misses a month, or half a season, when it comes to cheating the LTIR.
 
I’m sure your post history has plenty of times you’ve talked about Kane shouldn’t be allowed back for the playoffs?

I think it's all cap circumvention. Kane coming back for the playoffs too. I hate that the league turns a blind eye to it. The league should have addressed this years ago when Chicago first did it with Patrick Kane. I don't blame teams for doing it. Honestly I think the Oilers management did a piss poor job with it this year. They didn't effectively use up all of Evander Kane's LTIR. That doesn't change that I think it's all BS though, and think its something the league needs to change.

Look, you can hate the rule all you want. I get it, I do too. It's been exploited egregiously. But this isn't one of those cases.

The other scenario is that the Avs subtract from their roster at the deadline and create 7M in cap space to activate Landeskog. A realistic outcome of this is that Landeskog plays 10 games, and then realizes he can't go on. Now the Avs are left with 7M in dead cap space and a worse roster all because there was a chance Landeskog could suit up for a few games. That's the better route in your eyes? The rule literally exists for a scenario like this.

And it's not the LTIR rule you're mad at, it's the fact that teams don't have a salary cap come playoff time. That can be adjusted, and maybe it's a %. But instead of go into depth about all the possible contingencies the NHL just has a blanket rule that allows for maximum roster flexibility at the most important time of the year.

I think by far the most egregious example was Mark Stone last season right before the trade deadline. But ultimately to me it doesn't matter how egregious it is. Any leeway leaves room for exploitation.

And yes, that other scenario you describe would be the risk teams would have to take.

LTIR exists to allow you to replace injured players. If you've replaced the player you should not be able to then bring that player back in once the playoffs start.
 
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Undeniably a cool story. Healthy Landeskog, Coyle, Nelson plus healthy/focused Nichuskin adds some much needed beef and depth that’s been lacking in scoring depth and functional size
 
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I think by far the most egregious example was Mark Stone last season right before the trade deadline. But ultimately to me it doesn't matter how egregious it is. Any leeway leaves room for exploitation.

And yes, that other scenario you describe would be the risk teams would have to take.

LTIR exists to allow you to replace injured players. If you've replaced the player you should not be able to then bring that player back in once the playoffs start.
But the scenario I'm describing is one where the Avs are left without Landeskog OR players to replace him. So because their player has a serious injury, they should be forced into making a risky decision to activate him and potentially be left with an incomplete roster & dead cap space if he gets re-injured? What you're saying doesn't add up. Why should a team with a serious injury to a player be forced to take on extra risk?
 
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But the scenario I'm describing is one where the Avs are left without Landeskog OR players to replace him. So because their player has a serious injury, they should be forced into making a risky decision to activate him and potentially be left with an incomplete roster & dead cap space if he gets re-injured? What you're saying doesn't add up. Why should a team with a serious injury to a player be forced to take on extra risk?
Then you tell the player “we aren’t sure about your health so we are shutting you down until next season when we can get cap compliant”
 
Then you tell the player “we aren’t sure about your health so we are shutting you down until next season when we can get cap compliant”
And force him to miss the only games that matter when he may only have 20 or so left in the tank? After he's spent 3 years rehabbing to get to this moment?

Ya, better he suits up in October to finish out his career
 
And force him to miss the only games that matter when he may only have 20 or so left in the tank? After he's spent 3 years rehabbing to get to this moment?

Ya, better he suits up in October to finish out his career

Better to allow a $7m competitive advantage over your opponent.
 
The most likely scenario is retirement after one more Cup run IMO. Big reason why they brought EJ back
If you think he’s turning down 28 million dollars (or whatever the money actually comes out to with bonuses, etc) , I have some very bad news for you.

Maybe he LTIRetires, but if he thinks he can play, he’s gonna play. And trying this schtick for three years tells me he thinks he can play.
 
is it a 7M competitive advantage when the player hasn't played in 3 years? He's probably playing more like a 3M guy or less. But sure, die on the hill
I’ve already made it pretty clear that the player in question or the duration of injury is irrelevant for me. Allowing for areas of grey allows for exploitation which we’ve seen teams taking advantage of for years. You go ahead and pretend like your team is special and they don’t know exactly what they’re doing if Landeskog ends up ready come playoff time but not before.
 
995 days.

Morning skate of the game 6 2022 Stanley Cup victory over Tampa Bay. The last time Gabriel Landeskog participated in a full Avs practice.

He's participated in many morning skates, shootarounds, but today, he stayed for full practice. Rotated on the top line (MacKinnon-Necas) with Lehkonen for drills. Still a ways to go, but starting to ramp up to be ready for playoff hockey in 1 month.

Love him or the Avs or hate him/them, you have to be rooting for a guy like this to come back and play the game he loves.








Why should people be rooting for this guy if they hate the avs?
 
Is it a little much for the Av’s to be throwing him into the playoffs? He’s been gone so long and finally in game shape. Shouldn’t they be more cautious with him and wait until next season.
 
I’ve already made it pretty clear that the player in question or the duration of injury is irrelevant for me. Allowing for areas of grey allows for exploitation which we’ve seen teams taking advantage of for years. You go ahead and pretend like your team is special and they don’t know exactly what they’re doing if Landeskog ends up ready come playoff time but not before.
We’re so glad it’s irrelevant to you because your opinion is the be all end all of LTIR and its role.
 
I feel like this is something that he wants to do. No throwing involved.
I find it funny that some people have a problem with a player actively trying to come back after being injured for 3 years but give zero shits about a player who’s been inducted into the HHOF and having just been traded to another team for cap reasons who had no intention of playing out their contract for cap circumvention.
 
Then you tell the player “we aren’t sure about your health so we are shutting you down until next season when we can get cap compliant”
I’m pretty sure it is also against the rules to tell a player that they can’t play due to health reasons if they say they are healthy and are medically cleared.

This is just your preferred way of doing things that are against the rules, and that doesn’t make it any more right or wrong.
 
If you think he’s turning down 28 million dollars (or whatever the money actually comes out to with bonuses, etc) , I have some very bad news for you.

Maybe he LTIRetires, but if he thinks he can play, he’s gonna play. And trying this schtick for three years tells me he thinks he can play.
Yes, LTIRetire. If he plays it's through pain. He wants to give it a go but all signs point to this being a last hurrah not some sort of prolonged career resurgence.
 
I’ve already made it pretty clear that the player in question or the duration of injury is irrelevant for me. Allowing for areas of grey allows for exploitation which we’ve seen teams taking advantage of for years. You go ahead and pretend like your team is special and they don’t know exactly what they’re doing if Landeskog ends up ready come playoff time but not before.
I believe that if Landeskog is fit to play right now, it's only happened recently. But I'm not sure that's the case, as I've followed the injury pretty closely.

I believe if they thought he was fit to play at the New Year/time of the Rantanen trade, he'd be playing. With his progress where it was, yes they made the strategic decision to be cautious with an injury that took 3 years to recover from and use the cap space since he's still a wild card.
 
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In all seriousness, this is absolutely amazing news

Gotta love Landy and it’s going to be hard to cheer against Avs if I’m being honest. (Unless Canucks make playoffs lol)
 
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This is great news for Landeskog, I hope he can get back out there, it's a remarkable story to return from injury after so long.

It will be a shame when he only gets to play 4 games before their playoff run is over... yes this is merely hopeful thinking since the Flames have the Avs 2nd pick and I'd like it to be as high as possible.
 

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