{"id":234300,"date":"2025-10-23T11:44:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T11:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/234300\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T11:44:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T11:44:14","slug":"ucalgary-prof-helps-in-nhl-stars-unprecedented-return-to-the-ice-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/234300\/","title":{"rendered":"UCalgary prof helps in NHL star\u2019s unprecedented return to the ice"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Courtesy of FreshTape Media
\nGabe Landeskog, left, and Matthew Jordan.<\/p>\n

Kaiden Brayshaw
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
LiveWire Calgary<\/p>\n

As Calgarians sit on the edge of their seats awaiting Flames\u2019 8 p.m. season opener against the Edmonton Oilers, the most diehard fans might have tuned into the Colorado Avalanche vs Los Angeles Kings Tuesday night game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The game, a 4-1 Avalanche win, was not only the NHL\u2019s third game of the year, it was also Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog\u2019s first regular season game in more than three years.<\/p>\n

After captaining his team to a 2022 Stanley Cup win, Landeskog missed three full regular seasons and had multiple surgeries, including a cartilage transplant in 2023, because of a knee injury.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The nature of Landeskog\u2019s injury left one UCalgary prof oddly qualified to advise in his recovery.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem was that Gabe (Landeskog) had sustained an incredibly severe cartilage injury consequent to what we believe was a skate cut that he sustained,\u201d said UCalgary Assistant Professor Matthew Jordan.<\/p>\n

\u201cSubsequent to that, he essentially wore a hole in the back of his cartilage, which would be akin to putting your fist through drywall, if you imagine it leaves a big hole and that needs to be patched.\u201d<\/p>\n

After being asked to help with the recovery by another of Landeskog\u2019s manual therapists, Jordan knew that his niche expertise came into play perfectly when dealing with this specific injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my previous work as a head of sports science and sport medicine for Alpine Canada, skiers injuries are typically very, very traumatic, as they get the same sorts of cartilage injuries. So I had some experience with individuals who had had this type of surgery, and I had some understanding of what the trajectory would look like,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Typically with these severe cartilage injuries, athletes\u2019 timelines to get back to sport is not measured in months, it is measured in years, Jordan said. Once the \u201cdrywall\u201d of Landeskog\u2019s leg was fixed, a long process including physical therapy was ahead of the athlete.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a whole journey to be able to get back to walking normally, getting up the stairs, moving around with your kids, let alone being able to get into an NHL game in the playoffs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Typically, in-lab analysis and diagnosis of injuries is similar to bringing your vehicle to an auto-body shop, where they attach your car to a computer and diagnose problems, Jordan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the problem is still that when they leave that high-care environment of a clinic or a training space and they\u2019re now back out on the field of play or the ice, we have very low visibility on their movements and their biomechanics, which are intimately linked to their recovery and function.\u201d<\/p>\n

Enter Plantiga.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sensor measures every step<\/p>\n

Nearly a decade after being first approached by the Plantiga\u2019s CEO to co-develop a real-world applicable biomechanical sensor, Jordan was able to use technology he helped build to rehabilitate the NHL all-star and Stanley Cup champion.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve developed essentially the only validated, in-shoe sensor technology, It\u2019s used by professional athletes from all kinds of different sports, used in clinics and in research.<\/p>\n

The Plantiga chip automatically detects when the wearer is running, walking and jumping, and analyzes accordingly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe used this with Gabe extensively, to essentially monitor his every step, no pun intended,\u201d Jordan said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Daily, when Landeskog was in Colorado, he\u2019d go for a morning walk. Immediately afterwards, Jordan and another one of his trainers would analyze the date from the walk and based on his walk patterns.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would look at his biomechanics and we would make an appraisal based on whether that day was a green light day, \u2018let\u2019s go for it,\u2019 a yellow light day, \u2018maybe we pull back a little bit,\u2019 or we\u2019d sort of reached the limit of what his knee could take, at which point we would begin our recovery cycle and allow him to rebuild and recover as we prep for the next day,\u201d Jordan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything was very, very calculated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through the Plantiga chip, Landeskog\u2019s trainers, including Jordan, were able to understand the mechanical load that a knee is under during a typical NHL game and reverse engineer where Landeskog was and where he needed to get to.<\/p>\n

Around December of 2024, Jordan said the team began to see the recovery turning a corner. When progress continued into January and February, the team knew Landeskog was on the cusp of a long awaited NHL return.<\/p>\n

After playing two games with the Avalanche\u2019s minor league affiliate, the Colorado Eagles, Landeskog was set to return to the Avalanche lineup during the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, 1,032 days in the making.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor his comeback game, it was really critical for him to have his friends and family there and I was very fortunate that Gabe saw me as part of that team of people who helped him,\u201d Jordan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was Ball arena, game three against Dallas (Stars) and Gabe flew us all down and put us up in a hotel and got us some seats and we joined his friends and family, it was awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

After ups and downs, seeing Landeskog play was amazing for Jordan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe played a great game and the crowd was electric,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a really beautiful moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Landeskog finished the series with a goal and three assists. He is now set to help the team chase its fourth Stanley Cup victory.<\/p>\n

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