The Avalanche are holding their breath on Gabriel Landeskog again after he was slow to get up late in Saturday's game against St. Louis.
His head took contact from Brandon Carlo's hip on a power play, with under five minutes left. One Avs account hoped he'd simply get the rest of the night off.
There's no update yet. For a player whose career has been interrupted by injuries before, every slow get-up feels bigger than it should.
Carlo's name should sound familiar. One night earlier, the Blues defenceman was handed a five-minute major and a game misconduct for kneeing Roope Hintz in Dallas.
Nothing suggests this contact was intentional. Still, it's two straight nights with Carlo in the middle of a star going down.
Landeskog opened the season with a goal in Colorado's 8-4 win over Los Angeles. He's 33 and carries a $7,000,000 cap hit.
Jared Bednar's Avalanche can't afford another long Landeskog absence
Colorado gets a few days to sort it out. The Avs don't play again until Wednesday in Winnipeg, followed by Calgary the next night.
That back-to-back is a test even for a healthy roster. Losing a veteran forward now would put more weight on Nathan MacKinnon, who already dropped the gloves with Brandt Clarke in the opener.
Landeskog brings more than goals. He's the kind of presence a room leans on, and Chris MacFarland knows how hard that is to replace.
Colorado should keep him out until he's fully cleared. There's no prize in October worth risking another long stretch on the sidelines.
Every stumble now feels like watching a vase wobble on a high shelf. You don't breathe until it settles.
The update will come soon enough. Until then, Avs fans will be refreshing every report out of Denver, hoping this was just a scare.
Bednar has managed without him before. He'd much rather not have to learn how again.
Should the Avalanche hold Gabriel Landeskog out as a precaution?
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