The Colorado Avalanche have been without forward Valeri Nichushkin for their last three postseason games against the Seattle Kraken due to, as they put it, “personal reasons”. Nichushkin was designated a late scratch prior to Game 3, and was reported to have gone to the airport and departed Seattle.
He also did not play in Games 4 and 5, and there’s no indication that he’ll be suiting up for tomorrow’s Game 6 when his Avalanche teammates will attempt to avoid being eliminated.
But now, more details have been confirmed surrounding exactly what took place in the incident, which is now being referred to as having been a “police incident” at the team hotel in Seattle.
Per Bennett Durando of The Denver Post on Twitter:
“The @denverpost can report Valeri Nichushkin was involved in a police incident at #Avs team hotel in Seattle, resulting in a woman who was found intoxicated in his room being transported to hospital for medical treatment. Nichushkin left Seattle that day.
There is no criminal investigation stemming from the incident, authorities told the @denverpost. Nichushkin has been away from the team since, with no timeline to return.
The team has not commented on Nichushkin’s whereabouts, who made the decision for him to leave Seattle that day or whether his absence is being considered disciplinary. Nichushkin is on the first season of an eight-year contract.”
According to team employees, the woman was found in Nichuskin’s room when they went to check on him. The woman, who hasn’t been named, told them that “she should never have come to the United States and that some guy took her passport and that he was a bad person,” according to the incident report.
Nichushkin appeared in 53 games for the defending Stanley Cup champion Avalanche this season, scoring 17 goals while adding 30 assists. He was a force in Colorado’s title run last season, tallying nine goals in 20 playoff games and helping the Avalanche to their first Stanley Cup since 2001.
