Wanting It More: The Heartbeat Behind the Avs' 2025 Cup Push

Every team in the league wants the Stanley Cup. That’s the easy part.

The hard part?
Wanting it more.

Not just for the cameras. Not just for the t-shirts. But deep in the gut, in the lungs burning through a double shift, in the bruises you ice in silence. It’s not about banners—it’s about belief.

And belief, this year, may wear a No. 92 jersey.

June 26, 2022. That was the last time Gabriel Landeskog played in an NHL game. A Cup-clinching win. A storybook ending. And if it had ended there, no one could’ve blamed him. Knee surgeries. Rehabs. Setbacks. The kind of injury you don’t come back from—not without sacrificing comfort, security, and likely a few years of your life.

But Landeskog didn’t hang it up.
He laced them up.

On April 11, 2025, nearly three years later, the captain stepped back onto the ice—not under the lights of Ball Arena, but with the Colorado Eagles. The AHL. Where rookies fight for contracts and veterans rarely roam. Where ego dies and only hunger survives.

You don’t do that for the press.
You don’t do that for the legacy.
You do that because somewhere, inside, you still believe there’s more to give.

Landeskog’s return isn’t just inspirational—it’s a challenge. To every player in that locker room. To every coach, fan, trainer, and depth forward dreaming of ice time in May. If he’s willing to crawl through the dark just to earn his way back…

What’s your excuse?

And just when the script couldn’t get thicker—Dallas.

Let’s talk about Mikko.

The Moose. The sniper. The homegrown star. Gone midseason, moved like a chess piece in a game that rarely shows mercy to sentiment. And somehow, fittingly, he lands with the Dallas Stars.

They didn’t just gain an elite forward.
They gained motivation.

Rantanen signed long-term. He’s settled in. But don’t think for a second he isn’t carrying that trade like a lit match tucked behind his teeth. He’s coming. And he wants to win. Against us.

He has something to prove.

Which means the Avalanche have something to prevent.

This is not your average playoff subplot. This is Shakespeare on skates. A former teammate with fire in his veins. A team with unfinished business. A captain back from the brink.

Most Cup runs are built on one story.
The Avs have two:

Do it for Gabe.
Beat Dallas.

The former pulls at the heart. The latter punches in the chest. Together, they form a rare kind of narrative gravity—the kind that can carry a team through four brutal rounds.

And make no mistake, the Avalanche have the roster. The firepower. The speed. The goaltending. But this run won’t be won in the neutral zone or special teams alone.

It will be won in the emotional trenches.

Where you either find something deeper to skate for—or you fold.

So the question isn’t if Colorado is talented enough.
The question is:
Do they want it more?

And not in the abstract, rah-rah way.

Do they want it more than a former teammate with a vendetta?
More than a fanbase that’s already started mourning?
More than the pain, the pressure, the ghosts?

Because in the end, the Cup always goes to the team that answers that question without hesitation.

#AVSFAM, this is your moment too.

What’s your rally cry?

What will you do—for Gabe, for the past, for the future?

Let’s hear it.