For the first time since 2022, the Colorado Avalanche will start the season with a healthy captain — with no limits.

“Right now, he’s full go,” Jared Bednar said to open media day Wednesday for the Avalanche. “I’m not going to limit his minutes. I’m not going to sit him out games when he’s feeling good or taking practices off when he’s feeling good.”

Boy, is Landeskog happy to just be one of the guys again.

“Really excited to just have an offseason in the bank now and going into training camp as if I’m just anybody else on the team,” Landeskog said.

While he’s a full go now, the Avalanche and the 32-year-old Landeskog will have to navigate the situation as the season moves along. Bednar said if Landeskog needs a day off practice, like any other player could, he’ll provide that.

With a particularly tight schedule this year due to the Olympics, plans will likely change on the fly.

“We don’t really know what the managing exactly looks like over an 82-game schedule,” Landeskog said. “It’s going to be something we just continue working on as we go through the season, but I expect to be feeling good and I expect to be playing and I expect to be playing a lot.”

For the most part, the Avalanche don’t have any drama entering the season. They have some minor injuries, which we’ll get to later, but there aren’t major question marks surrounding the team. The captain is back, Valeri Nichushkin had his first normal offseason since before the 2022 Cup win, and they’re confident in their team.

Very confident.

“Probably the deepest team we’ve had since 2022 to start the season,” Bednar said.

One issue is hovering over the team: the contract status of Martin Necas, who can become an unrestricted free agent next summer if he doesn’t re-sign. Necas, like most players, wasn’t interested in talking about it.

“We’re talking,” he said. “We’ll see what’s going to happen. Can’t really tell you, I don’t even know. It’ll be interesting. It’s more about my agent.”

While that doesn’t sound great, it shouldn’t alarm anyone. Sources tell The Denver Gazette there has been progress made on an extension with the Czech native in recent weeks. There is optimism it can get done.

Everyone is still disappointed in the abrupt end to last season, when the Avalanche were discarded by the Dallas Stars in the first round of the playoffs. They believe they should have gone further.

“It still hurts,” Nathan MacKinnon said. “I don’t know how much negativity can drive you for the next nine months. I think we’re trying to be positive and look at it from just a new chapter, new challenges throughout this season. … (It) definitely still hurts. I’m sure that game will always hurt but going forward, I don’t think it can really motivate you in the right ways if you’re trying to win.”

This is still a team built to win it all.

“I think that’s why we keep doing this and this is why we keep trying,” Landeskog said. “I didn’t grind my ass off for three years to come back and just be a part of the team. You try to win and we want to put another banner up in the building.”

A strong start is expected with a mostly healthy squad entering the year.

But the team will begin camp without a few veterans. Logan O’Connor is still recovering from offseason hip surgery and is on track to return in early November, Bednar said. Sam Girard has been dealing with lower-body injuries and is back on the ice, but will miss some time in camp. They’re hopeful Girard will be ready to start the regular season.

If there’s one concern, it’s that starting goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood won’t be ready to start camp. Blackwood was dealing with an injury over the summer.

“Things seem to be going good,” Bednar said. “Week-to-week I would say right now, but he’s going to be limited and missing some time in camp as well. We’re hoping he’s ready to go for the start of the season; if not right at the start, then maybe the first week or two.”

Not ideal, but the team is confident Scott Wedgwood can hold down the fort if Blackwood isn’t ready to start the season.

Here are a few more interesting points from Wednesday:

• Devon Toews admitted he did a lot of legwork convincing Brock Nelson to re-sign with the Avalanche. He said Zach Parise, who finished his career in Colorado, also talked to the veteran forward. Both Toews and Bednar believe Nelson has another level he can hit now that he’s settled in. “He’s got more to give to us, and I think he knows it, too,” Toews said.
• Colorado’s one offseason addition was Brent Burns, who is already a popular guy in the locker room. Bednar noted that when he came into the practice facility this summer, he noticed crowds of people around Burns no matter where he was. He thinks he can add a lot to the team, on and off the ice. “He’s hungry to win,” Bednar said.
• On Nichushkin, Bednar said he’s been in a good headspace for a while but noted that health is the key for him. He’s had a full summer to train and get ready for this year. “I expect him to have a big start,” Bednar said.
• Bednar admitted the third-line center spot is the one hole in the lineup. He mentioned Ross Colton has played center before and that Jack Drury is someone who can fill that role, so they’ll experiment with that in camp. He also noted that Lehkonen is someone they could use on the third line to spread things out around that lineup. That would likely mean new addition Victor Olofsson gets a look in the top six.
• Dave Hakstol will indeed run the power play, Bednar said. The power play was the difference against Dallas but don’t expect sweeping changes. MacKinnon said he hadn’t met with Hakstol yet. Bednar said the search for a new assistant took a long time, but they liked Hakstol’s previous head coaching experience.
• With more right-shots than left-shots on the blue line right now, Bednar said Sam Malinski will open camp playing his off-side and they’ll go from there.
• If you’re interested in visiting training camp, all sessions at Family Sports are free and open to the public. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday’s sessions start at 9 a.m.