A CAPTAIN AND A FATHER
Foot injury allowed Avs’ captain to be home for his daughter’s birth
Gabe Landeskog’s broken foot had a silver lining. The Colorado Avalanche captain was able to witness the birth of Linnea Rae Landeskog on Nov. 1 and help out afterward. “I don’t think I could have done it without him,” says Melissa Landeskog, Gabe’s wife.
As a husband and expectant father, Gabe Landeskog was in the right place at the right time Nov. 1. On injured reserve.
That’s when Linnea Rae Landeskog was born, all of 6 pounds, 5 ounces, nearly a month before her due date. In a walking boot on his right leg, proud father Gabe — the Avalanche’s 27-yearold left wing and team captain — witnessed the birth and has spent more time than he thought he would have by his wife’s side ever since.
The Avs played 17 of their first 29 games on the road, including eight of 13 in November. Gabe never played last month, but he did change a lot of diapers.
“You would never wish an injury on your husband, or anybody,” said Melissa Landeskog, Gabe’s wife and Linnea’s mother. “It was a bittersweet feeling having him home. He was amazing. I don’t think I could have done it without him.”
Silver lining: Gabe is from Sweden and Melissa us from Canada. No other members of the family were in Denver on Nov. 1, and if Gabe wasn’t on IR, he would have had a game that night.
Gabe was diagnosed with a broken foot Oct. 28 and missed 16 games before returning Dec. 5. If he had been healthy during that time, he would have had to make a decision about playing in the Nov. 1 home game against the Dallas Stars, which would have started about three hours after Linnea was born.
“As a professional athlete, I don’t think you are at this level without being selfish — in the way of putting in the work,” Gabe said. “You think about your family and friends, and me of course about Melissa. But you don’t get to this level without a certain amount of selfishness.
But with this one joining us (looking down on Linnea), it’s not about me anymore. I’m doing my job. I have a job to do. But this is the main priority.”
The Avalanche supported Gabe being there for his family long before he broke his foot.
“The team has been great all along. We’ve had a steady conversation throughout the whole training camp and start of the season,” Gabe said. “We talked about the due date — she was supposed to come Nov. 24, a day after my birthday. But things happened and she needed to be induced at Week 37. (The team) said it from the get-go: ‘You do what you need to do. If you want to keep playing and fly home for the delivery, do that. If you want to take a few days off, no problem.’ ”
The organization members making those decisions were general manager Joe Sakic, assistant GM Chris Macfarland and head coach Jared Bednar. They allowed forward Matt Calvert to miss last Saturday’s game at Boston to attend his grandmother’s funeral in Manitoba.
Calvert’s youngest son was born when he was playing for the Columbus Blue Jackets, and as he feared, his wife, Courtney, went into labor when the Blue Jackets were on the road, flying home after playing in San Jose.
“Like Landy, it was two to three weeks before her due date,” Calvert said. “Little bit of panic. I had like two hours left, I think. I told the flight attendants — they actually sped up the plane. We gained 20 minutes. I was waiting at the front of the plane. Got off, got into my truck right away and probably sped all the way to the hospital and then about an hour later my youngest was born.
“I just made it and it worked out great. But definitely a little anxiety (when) she thinks she’s going to have the kid without you.”
Calvert estimates that around 20 babies of Blue Jacket players were born during his eight years in Columbus, and every player knew the organization wanted the player to be at the hospital.
“You really appreciate when your bosses have your back, and they want you to be there for your family and give you that space,” he said.
Bednar wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Family comes first for me, and for Joe — that’s kind of the culture we’ve built here,” he said. “We would have had a conversation with Gabe, and if he wanted to stay home and take a day or two I’m sure we would have granted. …
“Happy players, comfortable players, are more productive players.”
Gabe and Melissa met while Gabe was playing junior hockey for the Ontario Hockey League’s Kitchener Rangers from 2009-11 and Melissa was a college student in Guelph, Ontario. They were just friends at first. But the more Melissa learned about Gabe, the family man, the more she wanted to be around him.
They were married in the summer of 2018. They knew they wanted children. But they were both concerned about Gabe’s travel schedule and not having any family members in Denver.
“I was always adamant about, I wasn’t going to miss it, wherever we were,” Gabe said of his daughter’s birth. “But it was nervewracking. She was born 3½ weeks early, but even when I was playing — basically a week before she was born — we were on a road trip and I kept buying wifi on the plane in case she decided to come even earlier than that.”
Said Melissa: “I made a joke: Even if you get wifi and I tell you I’m in labor, what are you going to do? You can’t tell the plane to go faster. But it’s weird how it worked it because she did come early and she came fast. So if he was on the road there was a good chance he wasn’t going to make it.”
The Avs expect their captain to be at his best the rest of the season after not playing in what goes down as a special November for the Landeskogs.
“No question, he’ll look back on that time and be thankful for it,” Bednar said. “Getting injured is never fun but to be able to spend that time with his family and his family coming into town is good. And hopefully that time off makes him stronger the rest of the year. It’s a long season and we need him most at the end.
“Life is more important than hockey. Players appreciate that more when they come back and play.”