DENVER — Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog took the ice in his first NHL game in nearly three years Wednesday night against the Dallas Stars.

It marked his first NHL appearance since June 26, 2022, when he and the Avalanche beat Tampa Bay to win the Stanley Cup. He had been sidelined because of a chronically injured right knee.

The Avalanche posted a video of Landeskog driving to Ball Arena, which he concluded, “Hey Avs Faithful, it’s Gabe here, just wanted to shoot you guys a quick message — thank you guys for all the support over the last few years and I’ll see you tonight.”

The Cap has a message for you, Avs Faithful.#GoAvsGo | #BuiltDifferent pic.twitter.com/dhoTqrflZo

— x – Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) April 24, 2025

It’s his first game with the Avalanche in 1,032 days. He becomes the fifth player in NHL history — among those with a minimum of 700 games played — to return to his team after 1,000 or more days without a contest, according to NHL Stats. The last one to do so was longtime Avalanche forward and Hall of Famer Peter Forsberg.

“I feel surprisingly calm and in control right now. I know the butterflies and the nerves will come, I’m sure,” he said during a pregame interview. “I found myself thinking about this moment a lot over the last three years. And now that it’s here, it’s the reverse — I’m thinking a lot about the hard work that’s gone into it, some of the ups, a lot of the downs, sacrifices and support I’ve had along the way.

“Thankful for everybody and all their support, but now it’s go time so I’m excited to get out there.”

The first-round series with Dallas is tied at 1-1.

Landeskog’s presence on the ice provided a big boost not only for his teammates but also for the capacity crowd. His No. 92 sweater is a frequent sight around the arena.

The crowd chanted “Landy, Landy” as he led the Avalanche on the ice for pregame warmups. The chants continued during player introductions. Later, a video chronicling Landeskog’s three-year journey back was shown on the arena scoreboard.

“Everyone is rooting for him. It’s a great comeback story,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said after morning skate. “I trust in Gabe’s preparation, and what I’m seeing with my own eyes that he’s getting close and ready to play. I think he feels really good about where he’s at.

“Adding him back into our locker room, he’s almost an extension of the coaching staff, but he’s still one of the guys and the guy that everyone looks up to. You can’t get enough of that this time of the year.”

Landeskog’s injury dates to the 2020 “bubble” season when he was accidentally sliced above the knee by the skate of teammate Cale Makar in a playoff game against Dallas. Landeskog eventually underwent a cartilage transplant procedure on May 10, 2023, and has been on long-term injured reserve.

He was activated Monday before Game 2 in Dallas and skated in pregame warmups but didn’t play.

Stars forward Matt Duchene was teammates with Landeskog and they remain good friends.

“We’ve been rooting for him to come back,” said Duchene, who was the No. 3 pick by Colorado in 2009. “Obviously, it makes our job harder having a guy like that out there, but on the friends side, the human side and the fellow athlete side, I think everyone’s happy to see the progress he’s made. … I’m just really happy that he’s gotten to this point.”

It doesn’t mean the Stars will take it easy on Landeskog.

“It’s remarkable he’s coming back, if he’s coming back, as a friend,” said longtime teammate Mikko Rantanen, a 2015 first-round pick by Colorado before being traded in January to Carolina and on to Dallas in March. “As an opponent, obviously, no mercy.”

The 32-year-old Landeskog recently went through a two-game conditioning stint with the American Hockey League’s Colorado Eagles. He practiced with the Avalanche leading up to their playoff opener.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

LOS ANGELES — Veteran forward Evander Kane made his season debut for the Edmonton Oilers in Game 2 of their first-round Stanley Cup playoff series with the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night.

Defenseman John Klingberg also returned from a lengthy injury absence as the Oilers attempted to even the series.

Kane is a 15-year NHL veteran who hasn’t played for the Oilers since Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final last June. He had surgery last September to repair a sports hernia, and he underwent knee surgery in January.

Kane was slotted on to the Oilers’ second line alongside Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman.

Klingberg hasn’t played since suffering a lower-body injury while blocking a shot March 27 in Seattle. The Swedish veteran signed with Edmonton in January after going unsigned early in the season, but he played in only 11 games while dealing with multiple injuries.

The Oilers are hoping Klingberg can help their blue line, which frequently struggled in the Kings’ 6-5 victory in Game 1.

Jeff Skinner was scratched by the Oilers to make room for Kane. The 15-year NHL veteran forward made his Stanley Cup playoff debut in Game 1, recording an assist.

Chris Drury and the New York Rangers agreed to a multiyear contract extension on Wednesday, keeping him at the helm of the team’s hockey operations after missing the playoffs for the first time since the 2020-21 season.

“I am pleased that Chris will continue to lead the Rangers hockey operations in his role as president and general manager,” Madison Square Garden chairman and CEO James Dolan said in a statement. “Over his tenure, Chris has shown passion for the Rangers, relentless work ethic and a tireless pursuit of excellence.

“While we are all disappointed in what transpired this past season, I am confident in his ability to guide this organization to success.”

Drury, 48, took over as general manager and president of hockey operations at the start of the 2021-22 season. The Rangers reached the playoffs in his first three seasons.

His future was one of a few items that remained in question, with the intent that the Rangers would use this offseason to reload in their bid to return to the playoffs. The team also is facing a third coaching search in four seasons after firing Peter Laviolette following his two seasons.

“I am honored to sign this contract extension and continue in this position with the team I grew up supporting,” said Drury, a former Rangers captain who played four seasons with the team. “As I said when I began in this role nearly four years ago, there isn’t a more special organization in hockey, and I look forward to continuing our work this offseason to help us reach our goals for next season and in the coming years.”

After winning the Presidents’ Trophy and reaching the Eastern Conference finals under Laviolette in the 2023-24 season, the Rangers started 12-4-1 this season, only to lose the next five games. That started a chain reaction of inconsistent play that ultimately led to the Rangers finishing six points out of the final Eastern Conference wild-card spot.

While the Rangers sought to make the playoffs, Drury also made it known they were open for business in December. That’s when they traded captain Jacob Trouba, who still had a year left on his contract, to the Anaheim Ducks. A few weeks later, they traded Kaapo Kakko, the No. 2 pick in the 2019 NHL draft, to the Seattle Kraken for defenseman Will Borgen, who would then sign an extension with the Rangers.

A month before the trade deadline, the Rangers reacquired J.T. Miller in a trade with the Vancouver Canucks. The Rangers also traded defenseman Ryan Lindgren to the Colorado Avalanche and forward Reilly Smith to the Vegas Golden Knights while adding defensemen Carson Soucy in a separate deal with the Canucks.

Still, the Rangers lost four consecutive games in early March before having two three-game losing streaks that further damaged their chances in the Eastern Conference wild-card race.

Now that Drury has a new contract, he’ll be charged with trying to improve a roster that PuckPedia projects will have only $9.67 million in available cap space. K’Andre Miller, Zac Jones and Matt Rempe are part of the club’s eight-player restricted free agent class, while the Rangers have only two unrestricted free agents in Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Calvin de Haan.

Drury will be looking for a coach in what is expected to be a competitive market. Anaheim and Seattle also fired their coaches, and three other teams — Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia — ended the season with interim coaches. The Canucks declined the option on coach Rick Tocchet, but they have offered him a new, more lucrative contract.