Avs captain Gabriel Landeskog enjoyed a strong preseason, with seven points in four games.
Avs captain Gabriel Landeskog enjoyed a strong preseason, with seven points in four games. (Karl Gehring, The Denver Post)

He is the veteran sage captain of the Avalanche, only still not legally allowed to buy a beer. Gabe Landeskog enters his third season with the Avs feeling like it's his 20th.

"Time flies," said the Swedish left winger, the NHL's rookie of the year in 2012. "It feels like a million things have happened already."

At just 20 years old, a lot more figures to happen in Landeskog's career. He enters his third season intent on overcoming an uneven sophomore season, one during which the Avs finished last in the Western Conference and he missed significant time with a concussion.

Landeskog said he's wiser after the tumult of last season. Though he maintained he hasn't changed his overall physical style after taking a huge hit while his head was down, leading to the concussion, he knows he has to be more aware on the ice. In his rookie season, he also took a huge hit with his head down, from Edmonton's Andy Sutton.

"I like to think I (haven't) changed. But if you've been in that situation, it's easy to change automatically," Landeskog said. "It's easy to adapt to certain things without thinking about it, whether it's staying out of certain areas, or going to the middle of the ice.

" But I think for me, just knowing what players are on the ice, what players you're matched up against and being aware of your surroundings — for every player it's a fine line between knowing what's coming and not being scared out there, because if you skate around being scared out there, it's going to hit you in the wrong way."

Landeskog had a very good preseason, capping it with two goals Saturday night in the Avs' 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings in Las Vegas. He had three goals and four points in four games, skating mostly on a line with Paul Stastny and Alex Tanguay. Before last season, he became the youngest captain in NHL history, at 19, which raised eyebrows among some who might have felt that's far too young for anyone to get a "C" on his sweater.

Some may still believe that, but first-year Avs coach Patrick Roy isn't one of them.

"I've been very impressed with him so far, very impressed," Roy said. "He scored a goal the other night against Dallas that made it 4-1 (for Dallas) and it showed 'We ain't gonna give up this year', and that was awesome. He's showing a great example for us."

Landeskog is still learning about the captain thing. He's trying to be more of a leader by example than getting in everyone's face. But he isn't shy about speaking up either.

"With every game you play, you feel a little more comfortable with the 'C' on your jersey," he said. "But for me, it's just about being myself. I feel like guys will respect you a little more every day and listen to you a little more when you do. I just want to feel like we're on the same page, talking to a lot of guys about things and not trying to make too many decisions on my own. Ultimately, some decisions are going to be mine, but I talk to (J.S. Giguere) and (Paul) Stastny and other (veteran) guys. I'm on the right track, but I've still got a lot to learn."

Landeskog said the atmosphere in the Avalanche dressing room is livelier this season than a year ago. On Sunday, after practice, the room hummed with chatter, with players sitting and talking about the game.

"The feel of the room, it's hard to explain when you're not in there every day; but coming to the rink now, everyone is so happy and so excited," said Landeskog, who signed a seven-year, $39 million extension that kicks in next season. "Everyone is working for each other. Everyone is buying into the systems and we're really excited. Even the training staff, the coaching staff, we're all having a lot of fun and cracking jokes on the ice. But when it's go time, it's go time."

Go time is the season opener Wednesday night against the Anaheim Ducks at the Pepsi Center.

"We'll be ready," Landeskog said.


Three players were pared off the Avalanche's training camp roster Sunday, leaving 24, one over the opening-night limit. But with defenseman Ryan Wilson going on the injured reserve list, retroactive to Sept. 15, there will be no other cuts before Wednesday's opening night. The Avs sent forwards Brad Malone, Guillaume Despiens and goalie Sami Aittokallio to Lake Erie of the AHL.

Adrian Dater: adater@denverpost.com or twitter.com/adater