ANAHEIM — Gabriel Landeskog’s teammates, coach and general manager love where his game is at. Landeskog himself is not satisfied.

“I got some stuff to work on, and it’s a work in progress, as it always is,” Landeskog said earlier this week. “Nobody’s a finished product ever. (Just) continue to work, and I’ve felt pretty good since we got back to it.”

Pretty good might be an understatement.

Landeskog is rocking a plus-7 with six points in the five games since the Avalanche returned from the Olympics break. Back on a line with Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas, a spot he occupied before crashing into a goal post Jan. 4 in Florida, he looks a lot like his old self.

Colorado plays at Dallas at 6 p.m. Friday (Altitude TV/ESPN+).

Some criticized the Avalanche for allowing Landeskog to play in the Olympics, but there was a method to their madness. And now it seems to be paying off.

“I really liked the way he was playing before he got hurt. That looked like the Gabe of 3.5 years ago, and he looks like that now,” coach Jared Bednar said after the Avalanche crushed Anaheim 5-1 Tuesday. “He’s making an impact at both ends of the rink. That was kind of what we talked about going into the Olympics, that we were really hoping he would be healthy enough to play.

“No. 1, because I know he wanted to get a crack at the Olympics and represent his country. No. 2, for me as his coach, there’s no rust coming back then. You’re playing some of the most intense hockey you can play on the world stage, and he handled that well. And he’s come back, and he looks great.”

The full-season statistics for Landeskog make it seem like he’s not the guy he was in 2022. But a slow start fudges the numbers. (In retrospect, a slow start should have been expected.) It’s one thing to come back in the playoffs when you’re full of adrenaline after such a long absence. It’s an entirely different thing to come back to the grind of an 82-game season.

Over his first 16 games, Landeskog registered just four points. In the 30 games since, he has 24, including all nine of his goals. That’s a 65-point pace over a full season, the type of production the Avalanche easily would take.

Now he’s back in a familiar spot, playing left wing on a line with MacKinnon. The two have picked up right where they left off nearly four years ago.

“I feel like every week he’s getting better and better,” MacKinnon said of Landeskog. “It’s a long time to be off. I think (in the) playoffs, he was amazing, but it’s a lot of adrenaline. But he’s getting his timing back. His shot looks really good. He’s had a couple of good (one-timers the) last couple nights, so he’s a pleasure to play with. Always has been.”

MacKinnon benefits from having Landeskog on his line. But the entire team benefits from the presence of the 33-year-old being in the lineup.

With the captain in the lineup, the Avalanche are 35-4-7. Without him, they’re 6-6-2. Devon Toews, another key cog in the Avalanche machine, was also missing during that time so the number is slightly skewed, but there’s no doubt that very few make the impact on and off the ice that the Swede does for Colorado.

A Denver radio pundit this week called Landeskog a “massive, underachieving disappointment” for his on-ice contributions this season.

Make no mistake, no one around the Avalanche would agree with that.

“We were very hopeful that things would go well for Gabe,” Avalanche general manager Chris MacFarland said. “First of all, for Gabe, right after what he went through, and he’s such an important player for us and touches everything we do on and off the ice. But to see him play in the Olympics, and I thought before the Olympics he was playing his best hockey. And then he had the tough crash into the net in Florida, and missed some time, and we certainly missed him. But to see the year he’s had to date, to me, it’s been nothing short of fantastic.”