Gabriel Ingemar John Landeskog (born November 23, 1992) is a Swedish professional ice hockey forward for the Colorado Avalanche of the National Hockey League. He was selected 2nd overall in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft by the Colorado Avalanche.[2]
Playing career
[edit]Djurgårdens IF
After a successful season for Djurgårdens IF in the J20 SuperElit Gabriel debuted in Elitserien on February 21, 2009, in a game against Brynäs IF, which Djurgården lost 2–4. At age 16 years and 90 days he became the youngest player in Djurgården’s history,[3][4] and one of the youngest to ever have played in Elitserien. He recorded his first point in Elitserien on January 24 in his second game, a 2–2 tie against Skellefteå AIK.[5]
[edit]Kitchener Rangers
Landeskog with the Kitchener Rangers
On August 4, 2009, his CHL rights were traded from the Plymouth Whalers to the Kitchener Rangers.[6]
In the 2009–10 season Landeskog roomed with former Ranger Jeff Skinner,[7] now a member of the Carolina Hurricanes. By the end of the year, Gabriel was third among OHL rookies in points (trailing Matt Puempel and Boone Jenner) and goals (trailing Puempel and Ivan Telegin).[8] In the playoffs, Kitchener made it to the conference finals where they were eliminated by Windsor, and Gabriel was third overall on his team as well as the highest scoring rookie ahead of teammate Ryan Murphy[9]
On October 24, 2010 Landeskog was named Captain of the Kitchener Rangers. This announcement made him the first European Captain in franchise history.[10][11]
[edit]Colorado Avalanche
Landeskog was drafted 2nd overall by the Colorado Avalanche in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.[12] He is tied with Daniel Sedin and Victor Hedman as the second highest Swedish draft pick in history - Mats Sundin is first as the only Swedish player to be selected first overall in the draft. Landeskog became the first Swedish-born player ever drafted in the first-round out of the Ontario Hockey League (Rickard Rakell would be selected 30th overall in the same draft). Subsequently, the Kitchener Rangers dropped him from their roster to free up a position on their roster on the anticipation he would be playing in the NHL the next year.[13] He made the Avalanche roster for the 2011–12 season, one factor in this decision is possibly that it enabled the team to reach the floor value for the salary cap.[14]
Landeskog scored his first National Hockey League goal on 12 October 2011 against Steve Mason of the Columbus Blue Jackets on a deflection of a Jan Hejda shot with 41 seconds left in the game to send the game into overtime.[15] This goal would make him the youngest Swedish born hockey player to ever score an NHL goal at 18 years, 324 days. Landeskog is the first rookie to score his first NHL goal as an equalizer in the final minute of the third period sinceTom Gilbert of the Edmonton Oilers, who did it in 2007. On October 22, 2011, he compiled his first two-goal NHL game in a 5–4 shootout victory against the Chicago Blackhawks. Landeskog’s second goal tied the game with 1:48 left to go in the 3rd period, sending the game into overtime and an eventual shootout. Landeskog recorded his first five minute major for fighting, against newly acquired opponent Jack Johnson of the Columbus Blue Jackets on March 1, 2012. On March 1, 2012, Landeskog was named NHL’s Top Rookie for the month of February scoring seven goals to go with a total of thirteen points for the month. Landeskog finished his 11–12 season with 52 points, including a team leading 22 goals surpassing Matt Duchene as the youngest in franchise history to do so. He would also tie for the lead in points over his rookie class alongside the only player in his draft class picked higher than himself, in first overall pick Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. He lead rookies in shots on goal, and broke Peter Stastny‘s franchise record for shots on goal by a rookie. Landeskog was the only Av to play in all 82 regular season games in 11–12. He won the Calder Memorial Trophy for 2012, beating out other nominees Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Adam Henrique for the award.
[edit]International play
In December 2009 Landeskog was left off Sweden’s roster for the 2010 World Junior Championships.[7]
Landeskog was named as an alternate captain at the 2011 World Junior Championships[16] but only played one game before he was sidelined with a high ankle sprain.[17]
Landeskog played in the 2012 World Championships and was named an alternate captain for that tournament (Daniel Alfredsson was named captain). Gabriel was Sweden’s second youngest player participating at the tournament, about eight months older than Jonas Brodin[18].
[edit]Personal
Gabriel is the son of former Swedish Elite League defenceman Tony Landeskog, who currently works in the insurance business; his mother Cecelia is a chef and cooking instructor.[19] He has a twin sister Beatrice, as well as a brother three years older than him back home with his family in Stockholm, Sweden. He moved to Canada by himself at age 16 in time for the 2009–10 OHL season.
[edit]Career statistics
[edit]Regular season and playoffs
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| 2007–08 | Djurgårdens IF | J20 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2008–09 | Djurgårdens IF | J20 | 31 | 7 | 14 | 21 | 63 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 8 | ||
| 2008–09 | Djurgårdens IF | SEL | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2009–10 | Kitchener Rangers | OHL | 61 | 24 | 22 | 46 | 51 | 20 | 8 | 15 | 23 | 18 | ||
| 2010–11 | Kitchener Rangers | OHL | 53 | 36 | 30 | 66 | 61 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 2 | ||
| 2011–12 | Colorado Avalanche | NHL | 82 | 22 | 30 | 52 | 51 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| NHL totals | 82 | 22 | 30 | 52 | 51 | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
[edit]International
| Year | Team | Event | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Sweden | WJC18 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 24 |
| 2011 | Sweden | WJC | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 2012 | Sweden | WC | 8 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| Junior int’ totals | 7 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 24 | ||
| Senior int’ totals | 8 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 6 | ||
[edit]Awards
- 2011-12 – Calder Memorial Trophy