Dallas, Tranquility Base here. The Eagles have Landy. Even if Gabe Landeskog never skates a shift at the American Airlines Center, Lone Star faithful oughta be quaking in their chaps. The Stars got Mikko. The Avs got Miracles. I mean, sure, our old pal Mikko Rantanen got $96 million out of Dallas. C an’t put a price on mojo. Just hand Landeskog the ESPY now. No NHL player has ever skated again after the kind of cartilage repair the Captain had done. No NHL player had even seen a second act. Until now. And wouldn’t you know it? In Landeskog’s conditioning debut with the AHL’s Colorado Eagles on Friday, the man wasted no time getting in everybody’s hair. Eleven minutes into his first competitive game in 1,020 days, Landy got sent to the box for hooking. Blue Arena was tickled pink, of course. So he waved. Twice. He put a kid in a headlock. He popped another dude into the boards. He camped out in front of the crease, just like old times. He fired from the slot. Fifteen shifts. 14:49 of ice time. Two penalty minutes. $200 tickets. Can’t put a price on good vibes. If O Captain’s knocking, the Avs are rocking. Gabe’s the cherry on top of this crazy sundae Avalanche general manager Chris MacFarland has been building for months. In January, MacFarland wanted to shake up his roster. In Nuggetsland, that means sitting on your hands and fighting with your coach. Not Mac. First, he shocked us all by shipping Rantanen to Carolina. In isolation, it felt like insanity. In hindsight, it was the beginning of a genius makeover. The Avs at Christmas offered two lines of stars and two of scrubs — the perfect formula for getting bounced early from the postseason. MacFarland didn’t just solve the franchise’s eternal 2C problem. He went out and grabbed a 3C for fun. He forged five lines of depth. Then, for good measure, he went for the feels by bringing defenseman Erik Johnson, a fan favorite, back home. Now imagine a locker room with EJ holding court in one corner and Gabe doing the same at the other. To paraphrase Yogi Berra, 70% of winning a Stanley Cup is half mental. It’s the ultimate spring grind. A nine-week battle of wills. For two straight Aprils — since Landy’s been out of action, really — the Avs have looked soft in crunch time. Soft in the head. Soft in the spine. Soft when it counts. You think anybody on that club’s going to want to dog a shift and then have to look Landeskog in the eye? Or disappoint Johnson, who just turned 37? Colorado will go this postseason as Valeri Nichushkin goes, same as it ever was. Better believe No. 92 and No. 6 know how important No. 13 is to this franchise’s quest to lift Cup No. 4. You think Val wants to let Gabe down now? “You keep putting the work in, and day-by-day you keep doing it and keep believing,” Landeskog told reporters late Friday night after his AHL return. “The days become weeks, and the weeks become months, and finally, years have gone by and now you’re playing again. I never thought this was ever going to get to this point and get this big and get this much attention, and that was never my intention. I’m just trying to fight my way back, and here we are. So yeah, it was a fun night.” Darn straight. Looked good, didn’t he? At least from what you could make out via your laptop or smartphone. Even if it’s on a third or a fourth line, seeing Landeskog in burgundy and blue gives you 2022 goose bumps all over again. MacFarland’s getting the band back together, kids. “I’ve always tried to kind of stay present, live in the moment,” Landeskog reflected. “(I’m) still going to do that. I don’t want to look too far ahead, but I do know that I feel good (Friday) …  Hopefully I feel good (Saturday), and we can keep working and I can keep practicing. And we’ll see where it takes us.” It’s 49 miles to Loveland, we’ve got a full tank of gas, and Gabe is throwing guys around. Hit it. “It was fun,” Landeskog said. “The headlock wasn’t necessarily planned (Friday) morning. But it’s part of the game.” The Eagles have Landy. This flight’s starting to smell like another round-trip ticket to Lord Stanley. In fact, you might even say it’s in the Stars. ...read more read less