As a goaltender, Mackenzie Blackwood has a unique perspective when he’s on the ice.
As a teammate, he’s been in a situation that no player in NHL history has likely ever experienced. Blackwood has played for two teams this season — one chasing the Stanley Cup and one destined for the top of the draft lottery — that did not have its captain for an extended period of time.
San Jose captain Logan Couture played in just six games over the past two seasons while trying to recover from a pubic bone injury that ultimately ended his career. When Blackwood arrived in Denver from the Bay Area in a late November trade, his new club was also missing its captain, with Gabe Landeskog trying to recover from extensive right knee issues.
Landeskog has since returned, and will be a key part of Colorado’s attempt to stave off elimination Thursday night at Ball Arena in Game 6 of this opening-round series against the Dallas Stars.
“The makeup of the (Avs) is a lot different. The locker room presence is different too, just from the people who are in there,” Blackwood said. “But I’d say it’s kind of similar in a way because you still don’t have that one guy. The other guys did a great job filling in roles, but when you don’t have your top leader, it’s still tough.
“It definitely feels like when you’re missing your captain and your leader, it’s just like a hole in the roster. Both teams did a good job trying to stay positive and hold each other accountable, but it’s just a different energy when you have a guy like that driving the ship.”
There are other connections between the two situations as well. Ryan Warsofsky was a first-year NHL head coach this year for the Sharks, who finished with the worst record in the league. He counts Avs coach Jared Bednar as one of his key mentors, given both spent time with the South Carolina Stingrays in the ECHL.
Those two were able to share notes on what it’s like to navigate a season without a healthy captain. The paths forward for Bednar and Warsofsky went in different directions on April 15.
That was the day the Avs announced that Landeskog was returning to the parent club after a successful conditioning stint with the Colorado Eagles. It has been all systems go for the comeback since those two games in Loveland.
“It’s some of the coolest stuff I’ve ever seen,” Blackwood said of Landeskog’s return. “I mean, after three years to come back like this. That was the loudest warmups I’ve been in (before Game 3 against Dallas) in my life. Then he scores and it’s just … we’re all so happy and proud of him.”
The same day of the Avs announcement, there was a very different one in San Jose. Almost an alternate reality, a day that Colorado hockey fans had long dreaded — Couture announced his retirement on April 15.
Landeskog said there’s only been a couple of text messages exchanged between the two captains during their time away, but he knows what a great competitor Couture has been and was sad to see that announcement.
“It’s too bad, because he’s such a good player. That’s a career cut way too short,” said Jody Shelley, who is part of the TBS broadcast crew for Game 6 and played with Couture in San Jose. “I know him from being such a hard worker and a guy who takes so much pride in being the captain there.
“Just to see him end it that way, it tugs at your heart.”
It’s been two opposite ends of the emotional spectrum. Couture couldn’t make it back, but now Landeskog has.
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Maybe Landeskog’s experiences, and the perspective he can provide, will help this core group of Avalanche players rally from a 3-2 series deficit for the first time together.
“He shared that (sentiment) with our room yesterday,” Bednar said. “I don’t think anyone’s in our room taking our position here for granted. We’ve got a lot of character guys in there, hard-working guys. But it’s certainly a different perspective when you think about what Gabe has been through over the last three years, and how happy he is to be back.
“He seems pretty relaxed and focused and ready to go, just looking forward to going out and out-competing the opposition tonight. That’s the mindset that all of our guys should have, to a certain extent. He’s relayed that with our group and I think it was a great share by him.”
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