"Like his NHL career, this weekend is a pleasant surprise for Gabriel Landeskog.

The Avalanche rookie is the club's lone representative at All-Star Weekend at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa. Landeskog, 19, will compete in today's all-stars skills competition, beginning at 5 p.m.

"It's a tremendous honor just to be named to that group," Landeskog said this week. "I'm very excited to not only represent myself, but the organization and the team."

Three years ago, before moving from Sweden to Canada to play for the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League, Landeskog was nothing more than a role player. His best skills were skating, heart and desire. Beyond that, he was average.

"I was never the star player," Landeskog said of his 16-under years in Sweden. "I always dreamt of playing in the NHL, obviously, and I had some skill, but not too much. I would never call myself a star player."

Landeskog is the Avs' fourth-leading scorer and sits atop the club's statistics in plus-minus (plus-12), shots (145) and hits (129), and he is first among forwards in blocked shots (33). His development has been rapid since he joined Kitchener and eventually became the club's first European captain in his second season (2010-11), before he became the second overall draft pick last June."