Roto Exclusive : Guest Contributions and Featured Articles

y Marty Kwiaton
The Landeskog Effect
To the shock of many, the Colorado Avalanche named Gabriel Landeskog team captain for the upcoming
2012-13 NHL season, and making him the youngest captain in NHL history. Anyone you talk to never
doubted for a second that when the Avalanche drafted Landeskog 2 nd overall in the 2011 NHL Entry
Draft that they were drafting a future team captain, however no one expected it after one pro season.
There were many nights last year, especially in the middle of February, as the team looked to make a
push for a playoff spot that Landeskog carried the team on his young shoulders through his
determination, compete and on-ice play. When most first year players taper off, not used to the length
and grind of the NHL schedule, he seemed to get stronger and better leading the Avs with 22 points in
the final 24 games of the regular season. Here’s a quick look at how his captaincy affects other Avs in the
upcoming season:
Milan Hejduk
Hejduk is a very quiet person who’s not a big voice in the locker room, he prefers to lead by example on
the ice. It’s obvious that the pressure of being the captain last season, and expected to do things he was
unaccustomed to in the locker room took its toll and spilled over onto the ice as he finished up the year
on the 4 th line. His leadership by on ice example couldn’t have lead his team out of a wet paper bag, let
alone into a playoff spot come April. Hejduk did not want to finish off his career captaining a young team
from the 4 th line, instead he wants one more season to prove that he’s still got enough gas left in the
tank for his 12 th 20-goal season in 13 years. With Landeskog as captain this enables Hejduk to focus on
putting the puck in the net as the Avalanche have gone five seasons without a 30-goal scorer. He won’t
score 30 this year, but re-gaining chemistry with a re-energized and healthy Matt Duchene, and lining up
with the playmaking free agent acquisition of PA Parenteau should give Hejduk plenty of opportunities
to bury the puck in the net. Also, his 8.2% shooting is well below his 14.1% career average.
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