Swedish NHL star Gabriel Landeskog is ready for eight new seasons in the Colorade Avalanche.
He's happy with that.
- My goal was to stay in the club and I feel such a strong affiliation with Colorado as a club and Denver as a city.
We have a great team and if I had not seen the potential that we can win, I would not have signed on so far.
The 28-year-old has a good relationship with the club's general manager, Joe Sakic, 52.
- He is the sports director and the one who builds the team.
But he asks me about my feedback and what I think about certain things and what we need.
I'm always honest and it feels good to have that confidence.
- I love the direction our team is heading and where we are going somewhere.
"Then you would have written anything"
Landeskog's new contract is worth an average of seven million dollars per season, which gives him almost 500 million kronor.
What do the sums mean?
- You can not really think about it when you are in negotiations, then you would have written on anything.
It's a lot of money and it's hard to really understand how much it's.
- Somewhere you have a market value and for me it is about getting a decent contract for both sides and if I had gone to the open market I would have received much more.
For him, it's about feeling safe where he is.
"Realize how hard it is to win"
Last year, both Landeskog and the team got off to a tentative start, according to the player himself.
And in March, the game started to sit when he got into a rhythm.
- I produced well.
It was easy to play all of a sudden.
For the coming season, Landeskog believes that Colorado has good chances of winning the Stanley Cup - but there is a lot that will fall into place.
- I realize how difficult it is to win, it does not matter what you do in the regular season, when the finals come it is like a whole new season.
He points out that it should not be easy to win.
- It will not be either.
We continue to learn new things and to find the best level when it comes to the most.