You can’t spell “direction” without a “C.” Which is why it’s time Gabe Landeskog finally surrendered his for the cause.

The Avalanche could use one more assist before you go, Landy. Whenever that is.

Pick a successor at captain.

Find someone you trust to wear that sash as honorably as you did. Someone you can teach how to push the right buttons at the right time. Someone who you can show when to lead with words, when to lead with actions, when to lead with calm, and when to lead with your fist. Someone who can finish what you started during this title window.

Anyone could read between Avs general manager Chris MacFarland’s lines Monday, no matter how much he bobbed and weaved.

If Gabe’s coming back, it won’t be for a while yet. He’s got four more years left on an eight-year contract. It’s starting to feel as if the Avalanche intend to stash him away on Long-Term Injured Reserve (LTIR) for the life of it.

And hey, it’s their money. If Enos Stanley Kroenke wants to fork over $7 million a year for rehab, Landy has more than earned it. That Stanley Cup banner up in the rafters, the one from that shining summer of ’22, never happens without him.

But it’s time to give up the “C.”

It’s time to pick an heir.

Cale Makar would be great. So would Jonathan Toews, his defensive partner. Yet this is Nathan MacKinnon’s team now, MacKinnon’s franchise.

At 29, he’s shown no signs of slowing down. On or off the ice.

Can MacK The Knife cut people the wrong way? Absolutely. But if the captaincy is about setting an example, setting a tone, few in the NHL speak louder than the reigning MVP does. Sometimes without uttering a single word.

“Nate is like (Michael Jordan),” former Avs defenseman Nikita Zadorov told a Russian publication in 2021. “I don’t want to make a direct comparison, but his way of thinking is very similar to MJ. He can be a jerk to his teammates. You need to accept that, and it would improve you as a hockey player as a result. If you can’t accept it, well, you’re off the team.

“He is always the hardest-working guy. He comes out 30 minutes before practice, constantly working on his hands. Young guys see that he’s the best player in the NHL, and he still works to improve. It motivates them to work even harder.”

No one in that locker room wants to step on Gabe’s skates. Not a soul. The respect, like the brotherhood, runs deep. They’ve been through too much together, good and bad.

But three years is too long without an on-ice captain. Eight years is an eternity.

The Avs have talent. They lack an identity. A unifying force. A pilot light to bring the heat.

Pick a replacement.

If Cale won’t take the scepter, offer it to Toews. If MacKinnon declines, give him a few days to think it over. Then try him again. And again. And again.

“I think he’s not someone who’s going to announce that he’s the best,” Pittsburgh captain and NHL icon Sidney Crosby said Tuesday when I asked him about MacKinnon after the Penguins’ pregame skate. “I think he tries to let his actions speak for that.”

If anyone could change Nate’s mind, it’s Landeskog. Because in the meantime, the Avs will keep kicking this particular can down the road only as far as they have to — and in Landy’s case, that’s the end of the regular season on April 13.

We won’t see him before the playoffs for a number of reasons, not the least of which because MacFarland’s already spent his LTIR cap money.

With the acquisition of defenseman Ryan Lindgren (remaining hit: $1.25 million, per PuckPedia.com), Jimmy Vesey ($0.2 million) and Hank Kempf, Colorado’s wiggle room has been trimmed to just $3.286 million as of Tuesday. Given that Landeskog’s $7 million cap hit has been neatly tucked into the LTIR pool, the Avs would be in the red if he was activated before the postseason.

But this feels deeper. After three years of limbo, it feels as if Landeskog might be done.

But because of cap loopholes, the public line is to be vaguely positive, positively vague and keep hope alive.

Keep hoping.

Keep grinding.

Keep pushing.

Keep rehabbing.

Pick an inheritor.

Because you can’t spell “stuck” without a “C.” And passing Landy’s “C” to someone else now might be the kick up the backside a franchise needs to start planning parades again.