Confirmed with Link: Nichushkin back in assistance program; suspended a minimum of six months

[Bender]

Not only that, I have it from an inside source in the Stars locker room that DeBoer told Jamie Benn to finish all his checks hard to wear down the Avs D.

No inside source for me but I believe that Bednar told everyone -> "no one retaliate from that jamie benn hit on Toews. We are in the process of showing the rest of the league, this is how you beat the Avs... take out one of their best players with a cheapshot and they'll fold faster than Superman on laundry day. I don't want ANY pushback... make sure you make it clear that the message is -> 'thank you sir, may I have another' and then we can all go golfing soon enough."

"I am hoping that this will result in my dismissal, so I can go be the leafs head coach for double the money. I am certain that you will find a great candidate to replace me and surely ray bennett will remain because SOMEHOW he always seems to."

 

[LOFIN]

No one is going to willingly bail them out when they need to shed $6M of cap space in mid-November or December. The number of teams that can even absorb that kinda cap hit is small. Not to mention that Nuke has a full NMC until the 2025 season.

I don't think that will be an issue.

 

[GeoRox89]

Not only that, I have it from an inside source in the Stars locker room that DeBoer told Jamie Benn to finish all his checks hard to wear down the Avs D.

Not surprising. I had hoped we’d send our lunatics to finish every check hard on Tanev knowing a good clean hard hit a good chance of breaking him but apparently they weren’t prepared to do that. Florida or Rangers will have him on a stretcher by game 2

Edit: Never high head contact hits. Don’t care if they’re legal when done right, hate seeing anyone pick up a head injury. LBIs and UBIs suck but are part of the deal. Head injuries can completely mess up lives long after they’ve retired and I never want to see that

 

[Chileiceman]

I wonder if things with Nuke would have been different with a captain. I bet Landy would have gone out of his way to both help Nuke and keep him accountable. I just feel like there is a leadership void on this team.

I'm not suggesting that this is anyone's fault but Val's, it's just a stray thought. We don't know if Val is even trying to kick his habit. His initial participation in player assistance program may have just been to save face after the Seattle fiasco. It's becoming apparent that his absence earlier this year was not voluntary, it's what put him in stage 2.

Ultimately I want Val to make a full recovery and join the team again. But he will need to take real, ongoing accountability, if not to the public then to the organization and his teammates. There's no way he's accepted in that locker room again without a meaningful apology and a clear commitment to staying clean. If he's to be given one more chance, it needs to be understood by all that this is his last chance. If anyone sees Val drinking or doing drugs, you have a duty to narc on him. An open apology letter to the fans would be nice, but that would have to be his own decision, though I think it's warranted at this point.

 

[RockLobster]

I wonder if things with Nuke would have been different with a captain. I bet Landy would have gone out of his way to both help Nuke and keep him accountable. I just feel like there is a leadership void on this team.

I'm not suggesting that this is anyone's fault but Val's, it's just a stray thought. We don't know if Val is even trying to kick his habit. His initial participation in player assistance program may have just been to save face after the Seattle fiasco. It's becoming apparent that his absence earlier this year was not voluntary, it's what put him in stage 2.

Ultimately I want Val to make a full recovery and join the team again. But he will need to take real, ongoing accountability, if not to the public then to the organization and his teammates. There's no way he's accepted in that locker room again without a meaningful apology and a clear commitment to staying clean. If he's to be given one more chance, it needs to be understood by all that this is his last chance. If anyone sees Val drinking or doing drugs, you have a duty to narc on him. An open apology letter to the fans would be nice, but that would have to be his own decision, though I think it's warranted at this point.

Nah, I don't think so. Nichushkin is a grown adult and was/is going to do whatever he wants to do. As Jack Johnson said last night--he made his decisions.

 

[Boulder Avalanche]

I wonder if things with Nuke would have been different with a captain. I bet Landy would have gone out of his way to both help Nuke and keep him accountable. I just feel like there is a leadership void on this team.

I'm not suggesting that this is anyone's fault but Val's, it's just a stray thought. We don't know if Val is even trying to kick his habit. His initial participation in player assistance program may have just been to save face after the Seattle fiasco. It's becoming apparent that his absence earlier this year was not voluntary, it's what put him in stage 2.

Ultimately I want Val to make a full recovery and join the team again. But he will need to take real, ongoing accountability, if not to the public then to the organization and his teammates. There's no way he's accepted in that locker room again without a meaningful apology and a clear commitment to staying clean. If he's to be given one more chance, it needs to be understood by all that this is his last chance. If anyone sees Val drinking or doing drugs, you have a duty to narc on him. An open apology letter to the fans would be nice, but that would have to be his own decision, though I think it's warranted at this point.

Without Landy there is a hole in leadership seemingly. The fault is wholly with Val however a poor team culture can make personal problems worse. The guy battled through a bad injury during the Cup run and after that cost his team at least one legitimate shot at another. That to me indicates there are problems in the room that are left unaddressed. The team laid an absolute egg in game 4 and it is not surprising when one of your key players f'd you for the second year in a row. Navigating how to handle Val over the summer is going to be tough for Sakic & Company but there has to be larger changes in the leadership makeup to stop a spiral.

 

[wayninja]

Nuke is going to go from a fan favorite to infamous villain nearly overnight.

 

[GeoRox89]

Nuke is going to go from a fan favorite to infamous villain nearly overnight.

You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain

 

[MacKaRant]

Nuke is going to go from a fan favorite to infamous villain nearly overnight.

The classic Russian arc

 

[Chiarelli]

Nuke is going to go from a fan favorite to infamous villain nearly overnight.

He'll always be one of my favourites. Can't forget all the good just because there's bad. He was arguably our MVP during the cup run or a close second. Not sure we win without him.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Nuke is going to go from a fan favorite to infamous villain nearly overnight.

He was such a huge part of the 2022 Cup run that I feel like it's unfair to turn him into a villain.

Especially when talking about addiction. Like I get the 3 strikes at this point and it's time to cut ties and move on but I'd still think people can recognize what he did for us in 2022, recognize how awful drug addictions are, and hope that he can get help for himself in the future.

I have a cousin who sufferes from a pretty debilitating life-long injury that has him in constant pain, and he got addicted to his pain medications and pretty much went through all the typical addiction issues. Refused help, got arrested for robbery, tried to steal from his family, to the point where they cut had to simply cut him off from the family.


The Avs should be at that final stage with Nuke where we simply cut ties and move on, but hopefully he can get some help for his own sake but also his family that are undoubtedly suffering through a lot of this as well.

 

[S E P H]

Good riddance you piece of shit

Addiction is 100% selfish, but I think it's unfair to call him a POS. For the majority of people, I am very sure they don't want the addiction they have.

 

[LOFIN]

Addiction is 100% selfish, but I think it's unfair to call him a POS. For the majority of people, I am very sure they don't want the addiction they have.

Once again, the tone of his teammates is very telling

 

[CharlesPuck]

Question for those who may know more.

Was this a relapse for did he just get caught this time?

 

[Avs2022]

I don't believe the personal attacks are warranted. Yes he let the team down, we need to get rid of his contract, team sucked last night looked demoralized. However, for his sake, I hope he gets the help he needs. I'm actually starting to think it was PED's.

 

[Chiarelli]

Addiction is 100% selfish, but I think it's unfair to call him a POS. For the majority of people, I am very sure they don't want the addiction they have.

No one wants to continuously let down the people that care and rely on them. Addiction just sucks.

 

[wayninja]

You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain

I feel like there's a 3rd option where you do a lot of hookers and blow

He'll always be one of my favourites. Can't forget all the good just because there's bad. He was arguably our MVP during the cup run or a close second. Not sure we win without him.

We are paying for that win. The cost is in fact still climbing.

 

[GeoRox89]

We are paying for that win. The cost is in fact still climbing.

As much as it was a hilarious highlight at the time, NAK dropping the Cup before they even left the ice seems to have pissed off the hockey gods

 

[Grigowski]

He essentially already has. $6.125M in dead cap space. He will miss at least the first month of the season, and while that money won't count against the cap while he's out, the Avs can't use it to bring in someone else. Because as soon as he returns, so does his cap hit.

This!!

He f***ed this team twice.....

And still some here think his remaining teammates will welcome him back....No. The moment he enters the locker all hell will break lose.

 

[the_fan]

The biggest thing is, does Val believe he has an addiction or not and does he really want help? If not, he’s not gonna stop.

 

[sethro109]

At least this is something.

 

[SB]

If you guys know anything about hard drugs it's that they aren't something you do now and again or just occasionally. You do or you don't. He's likely been off the wagon for a while or never really clean other than his two prior strikes if he's been doing it in the playoffs. As stated, to test positive means he did it likely in the last 48 hours. Means he's been doing it non stop imo. Crazy given how well he was playing.

Or, the reason he was playing so well.

 

[Grigowski]

At least this is something.

?? The moment he comes back his cap will count again......

So we are f***ed if we dont find a way to terminate or get this player and contract off this team.....

 

[SB]

?? The moment he comes back his cap will count again......

So we are f***ed if we dont find a way to terminate or get this player and contract off this team.....

Kneecap him, send to LTIR.

 

[Bender]

Addiction is 100% selfish, but I think it's unfair to call him a POS. For the majority of people, I am very sure they don't want the addiction they have.

I think everyone understands that and maybe POS is unfair but what's even MORE unfair is the TIMING that he chose to do this....TWICE.

Imagine those guys on that team pulling together and working for 164 regular season games over 2 years and having the carpet pulled out from under them at the worst possible time...again.

I hope he gets the help he needs but his affiliation with the Colorado Avalanche ended at roughly 8:45pm last night at the same time as my hopes for another Stanley Cup this season.