Categories
Dans les coulisses

Valeri Nichushkin sends an arrow to the Avalanche about their playoff history 22-23

WINNIPEG, CANADA - APRIL 30: Valeri Nichushkin #13 of the Colorado Avalanche prepares for a first period face-off against the Winnipeg Jets in Game Five of the First Round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Canada Life Centre on April 30, 2024 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. (Photo by Jonathan Kozub/NHLI via Getty Images)

Remember the story involving Valeri Nichushkin during the 2022-2023 playoffs?

A (very) intoxicated woman was found in the Russian forward’s room and he was forced to leave the team in the middle of the playoffs…

Yeah. All this to say that Nichushkin is back on the case. Not to take the blame, but to criticize the Avalanche for their handling of the story.

The player spoke to a media outlet in Russia and poured his heart out, saying that he should have been allowed to tell his side of the story at the time.

The Avalanche prevented him from doing so… And he’s still carrying it around, obviously.

TVA Sports also wrote on the subject:

It was probably a bad decision. We should have said everything from the start, set the record straight.

People wouldn’t have wondered. It would even have been easier for me. – Valeri Nichushkin

(OBOXADSQ || []).push({“cmd”: “addBanner”});

Avalanche officials didn’t want Nichushkin to appear in front of the media because, at the time, he was the target of some pretty intense rumors.

In the end, they wanted to protect the player and it was probably the right thing to do, even if Nichushkin says otherwise.

Since then, Valeri Nichushkin has had a tough time.

He had to call on the NHL’s assistance program during the last playoffs for the first time in a short space of time, so much so that his teammates planted him publicly because he (again) had to leave the team during the last playoffs.

Here’s hoping things work out for him, because what happens next looks a little intriguing.

The Avalanche aren’t interested in trading him, and he’ll have some explaining to do if he wants to come back loved in the dressing room:

Overtime

– Phew!

– Happy reading.

– Fair enough.