Z is a great dude! I met him in Calgary when he was still playing for the flames and he was very kind he also did a lot of charity work with the flames around the city too.
Bro I seen him in the wild in Calgary downtown, I'm 6'4" and about 180. Dude made me feel petite. Absolute unit of a human being.
Super friggen nice too.
Oh, for sure. I'm just trying to manifest another Oilers loss, because fuck Evander Kane, fuck Darnell Nurse, and it'd be so fucking funny if McBaby takes another L. Vancouver also likely has a better chance at beating Dallas, so there's that. Dallas are my #2 hated team, behind only Detroit.
Oilers fan here, hoping Vancouver screws up their free agency summer bungling Zadorof and Hronek's contract process. Z has been a pain in the ass against the Oilers. Huge guy with heart and ready to dish out the physical punishment is what every team needs during the playoffs. Respect !
All in good fun! Watching Leafs sports radio and those guys are salivating over the fantasy of signing Zā¦ sign the man for $6M long term and build around him. But maybe you canāt afford Hronek
Val is getting way too much grace. Millionaire Russian busted with drugs and a trafficked prostitute. That's a movie villian. Not someone that deserves grace.
Yeah and hes still not eligible for termination after repeatedly failing drug tests. No one else in the whole damn world gets that much grace, theres no good reason that Val should.
Oh I don't know, I've known folks who've been obviously drunk at work for years in union shops and managed not to get fired. My ex's dad was one of them. He only ended up out of the job when he finally drank himself to death (liver failure)
Theres a difference between alcohol and illegal drugs though in the eyes of a majority of workplaces. Being an alcoholic is socially acceptable up to a certain point, hard drugs not so much.
As a fellow Ukrainian, my love for a player isnāt limited by borders despite whatās been going on. Thereās plenty of Russian players that I love.
I hate Val because he betrayed the Avalanche. I know addiction is hard but this is strike 3 and I have little sympathy for a multi-millionaire with loads of access to addiction support, especially when his profession is one that many would kill to have
yeah I'm cool with any Russian who supports Ukraine or speaks out about it. I used to run into Ovechkin periodically and we were always cordial to each other until his "Save Donbass children" post. It was so disappointing because the thing is, he's just kinda dumb and friendly for the most part and is just a tool for these guys, but he's happy to go along because of his fsmilt legscy of being prominent and well-connected sports stars there.
Just my two cents, but hey, as a former addict (7 years sober, 8 in July. Not bad when you're 33!) I feel like this might carry a bit of weight.
Addiction is a disease. No doubt. Beating addiction is hard. Hardest thing I've ever done. Again, no doubt.
But just because you have a disease doesn't mean you get a free pass. It means you have an extra challenge, and hopefully, some extra understanding when you slip up. That's what you're entitled to.
Val clearly isn't taking this seriously, and clearly isn't putting his whole effort in. And you need a whole effort to beat addiction.
It sucks that it's a struggle for him. Lots of people can do drugs and not get addicted. Lots of people can have alcohol every weekend and not get addicted (unlike myself). I /do/ have sympathy for his condition.
What I don't have sympathy for is his lack of effort.
As a younger recovered addict, I've had more than a dozen people reach out to me for advice and help. Only one of them got sober. The rest? Lip service, talked about it, then expected me to hold their hand every time they messed up. And I didn't.
Because Rock Bottom is sometimes necessary. Right now Val is thinking "Well if can't be that bad, in a successful hockey star making millions!". Maybe losing the job, the fame, the status gets him to rock bottom and gets him to actually put his whole effort into sobriety.
A bit off track, but I think itās really cool that even one person who reached out to you got sober. You were a part of that. Thatās incredible. Well done.
that's my thought, thank you for saying.
My dad was an addict and it was awful at times - some verbal fights and hurtful words when he was high or in withdrawal, a harrowing trip home from a bar when I was a kid and he clearly wasn't in the right shape to drive, various incidents of him stumbling and falling and having having go to the ER, holes blown in the family budget, occasions missed due to being in bed or in no shape to leave the house, secrets kept, embarrassing discoveries of things hidden around the house, humiliating drug-seeking behavior incidents with family friends recovering from surgeries, an inability to confront hard things directly when there was an "escape" available, times I couldn't have people around including my own kids because of his state of intoxication, a few instances of getting lost in the city or in trouble at work or wrecking his car, health problems that took him too soon... he was battling demons and he made some mistakes that I'm sad to say sometimes put people in danger. I forgive him and am proud of him for getting clean or trying hard to, even if it was too late to truly save him.
But while he had a chemical dependence and was trying to change away some deep old pain, he wasn't physically abusive. He didn't cheat on our mom. He was a gentle, kind, smart person with a problem and anyone who really knew him could see both aspects of him. Most people only ever saw the good.
Val is quite clearly an entitled asshole, not just an addict. Being addicted may make you desperate for money and sometimes aggressive, but I don't think you csn blame it for every bad thing a horny, rich, entitled athlete does. Look at Josh Hamilton- when he relapsed, he didn't just get drunk, he went out immediately and found someone to have sex with in the bathroom of the bar. His wife left him and took the kids while he was clean and allegedly devout. He was also allegedly clean when he assaulted his teenage daughter. Does he get a pass for all that?
Or look at Steven Tyler. He has had struggles with addiction and been through rehab. Does that excuse the time he took legal guardianship of a minor for the purposes of "legally" having sex with her, then coercing her into an abortion, and even in the past year arguing that his guardianship of her makes it all legal?
Sometimes addicts are shitheads too
As a former addiction counselor I have to agree, it's the lack of effort. I saw people dealing with addiction that made their recovery #1 and succeed and other give lip service and fail. Bless you for helping those that reached out to you. Congratulations on your sobriety.
two things are allowed to be true:
You can feel sorry for the human and his sickness and hope he gets the help he needs for his family and his child.
You can be angry because he let his team down twice.
The dude had more opportunities than anybody else in any other capacity would be afforded. He continuously made poor choices over and over again.
My sympathies are with his wife and kid. My sympathies are with the teammates that sacrificed all year only to be let down by this foolā¦.again.
I have zero sympathy for this dude not figuring his life out. We all have to make choices every single day.
I hope somehow they can get out of this contract. Or at least not a hit against the cap. I think Landy is done, with all that cap space and it projected to go up 5 million next year, we could add some good pieces. I hope Mack has a good chat with Crosby in the summer and he comes to Denver. Sid is getting older but still producing and having him in the lock room would be a massive morale booster. This is just my wish list
Nuke will remain suspended, and that means no pay, and no cap hit.
He's eligible to reapply after 6 months, but the league would set the conditions for him to return. I'd guess they would set the bar REALLY high. Imagine the league saying, "Your suspension will end after you submit to a program of daily drug tests with clean results for six months then random and weekly testing after that, as well as successfully completing rehab as well as weekly substance abuse counseling. You can no also longer associate with any of the shady characters you thought were your friends."
I'd guess they'll make it so intrusive that Val will just decide to go play in Russia.
His name has been removed from the locker room. The team has moved on.
It just sucks to have that uncertainty. Clearly the team no longer wants him in the locker room, but until its clear whether he will return to Russia or will try to get his shit together, we have his dead cap tying us up from making any FA signings.
Can't believe after all the org did to him, this is how he repays them.
THIS. His team brothers forgave him and welcomed him back (as far as we knew), and so did we fans. He got his cute nicknames back and we cheered for each goal.
We donāt stop loving people because they struggle with addiction. But I love Matty Perryās autobiography, as he admits that his hellish lifelong addictions WERE NOT GOOD EXCUSES for hurting people. If Val paid attention in rehab, he had a lot to prove in his sober life. One big thing is to understand that relapsing comes with responsibility to back out of the team before playoffs so they can plan. He did the same thing he did last year. Screwed them up at the last
Minute before a big game.
We can be pissed as hell at that.
>His name has been removed from the locker room.
Is that just a reflection of who is considered currently active, or do they leave up the names of other long term inactive players, like say Landeskog, as long as they're still in good standing with the team?
What I find amazing is that the league has erased his name from the playoff stats entirely. Technically, he should still be leading the league in playoff goals.. but... he's gone!
I've dealt personally with my own addiction and those of family & close friends. I've been the asshole that let them down (repeatedly), and have been let down.
Addiction is a motherfucker, and it can be simultaneously true that the person is a victim of a merciless disease, and an absolutely awesome person, and acting like a total dirtbag.
I'm pissed at Val, and I sympathize with him.
I live in Dallas, I had a custom made chu chu jersey made with cup patch and all and I loved wearing it hereā¦ and now I just canāt anymore itās a shame really.
Itās sounding like that wasnāt actually voluntary for Choo earlier this season. He triggered Stage 2 by failing a drug test. Otherwise he wouldnāt be in Stage 3.
Big difference between that and Sammy realizing himself he needed help.
you issue an apology for leaving the team in the playoffs under ugly circumstances, not necessarily for the Level 2 thing. But taking accountability and thanking your teammates for their patience would ahev helped even without an apology. Instead, he said "I think let's just close it" in a testy manner after posting tone-deaf wild Instagram pics instead of showing an ounce of contrition or humility
but that's the thing, we now know, since he's in Level 3, that it wasn't voluntary after all. It was a violation of his Level 1 agreement, and whatever he did to come back after it clearly didn't take, at all
Slava Ukraini! Fuck Putin!
I have every reason to sympathize with those suffering from substance abuse disorders, but the sex trafficking victim is what really erodes a lot of my patience and goodwill towards the man. For this to happen a second time during the playoffs is a betrayal that I struggle to forgive.
I hope he wakes up and gets the help he needs. I also hope he's no longer our problem after the suspension. Good player but also proving to be a massive liability.
I live in Finland, we share a long border with russia. I have been raised listening to my grandfathers talk about the war where Russia invaded Finland. Now Ukraine, I hope Ukraine can hold and get the help they need. At the same time in Finland there are a lot of Russians, and some are even family friends, really nice people. But fuck Putin, fuck Russia and I hope that country gets split in to pieces and they will be in civil wars for the next 40 years.
You said this so well and put my thoughts into words. Iāve felt so conflicted all season cheering for him and Iāve found myself resenting a team I love so dearly because of it. Iām so glad Iām not alone in this. Iām not Ukrainian but I canāt even imagine how it must have felt for you.
Val is responsible for his actions as a player, man, and husband. He is not responsible for the actions of his country, just the same as any of us arent responsible for ours (unless youre a politician i guess?). Him posing with a gun is no different than anyone else posing with one.
We dont know what happened in Seattle and probably never will. There are so many possibilities, its unfair to assume the unknown.
What we do know is he has a problem staying clean. Whether from addiction or pure lack of responsibility. We do know he let the team down. We dont know what led him to do that. Addiction, and in a larger scope mental health issue, is a different beast that I pray people dont have to deal with, and if that is the issue, I hope he is able to get the help and change he needs to be able to be a great man in his future life.
We can be disappointed that he failed and let the team down, but its unfair to judge fully from a distance without understanding that there are so many possibilities that led him down the road and to this destination.
It's tough. These guys who play pro sports, especially the ones who are making a ton of money to do it, are not well-positioned to make smart decisions. They get a ton of money and fame yet are under significant public scrutiny and constant stress to perform. I'm not defending HIM in particular, but this is sadly very common and is simply an unfortunate reality of following pro (and often college!) sports.
I was willing to let him get his shit together after the Seattle incident and was willing for him to be out for so long mid-season, but I'll be fucking pissed if I ever see him in an Avs sweater EVER again.
Fanbase was very quick to forget once he started scoring goals. Which is fairly true across all sports and teams, but I wish it wasnāt.
Feel like if youāre getting paid millions to play a sport being a decent person should be the bare minimum.
I donāt agree that people were quick to forget. I think from the outside it appeared that he had a good reason for this and his brothers forgave him coming back into this season. I had a long debate last year on whether we can trust Nuke again and my buddy pointed to the seeming reactance this season. If MacK can live with it, I can maybe live with it.Ā
Theyāre more employees than brothers imo.
If my company rehired or chose not to fire someone, Iām still going to work with them and be cordial. Especially if Iām getting paid millions to do so.
Last night I was disappointed and just hoping he would make the changes he needed to before it's too late. And while I still feel that way to some level, I have also grown very angry thinking about his family and the teammates and coaches he hurt with his actions AGAIN. He has been given so much support and love from this fanbase and his teammates and this is the thanks that everyone gets? Yeah, I feel you 100%. I've been through addiction myself and had to end it mostly on my own, without the support of a billion dollar organization and with little to my name. I almost died at one point due to my addiction. But I knew I needed to turn it around. This guy has all this goddamn support and he has screwed everyone who was behind him.
Am I mad, Yes but do I hope he gets the right hope and he recovers, yes Iām mad that heās lost his loyalty and canāt be trusted after 3 times and has screwed up the lineup but I seriously hope he gets help and recovers because this is serious for even just him family and later in life
To me, the whole Russia thing is way more inexcusable than addiction. Addiction is a tough disease to deal with, it doesn't care if you're homeless or a millionaire. Mental health is complicated, it's tough to deal with whatever demons you may have, especially as no one knows exactly how to help the chemical imbalance in your brain. It can be years of hard work and trial and error of various meds before you get it right.
The Russian thing though? Fuck that. I was born and raised in Slovakia, 20 km from the Ukrainian border. Russia fucked my home over in '48 by orchestrating a Communist Coup, then again by invading in '68. And now they spend tens of millions on friggin disinformation propaganda. Fuck them and anyone who lets themselves be used as a tool in that.
I suppose, but saying fuck him for the āRussian thingā is asinine, especially when (again I could be wrong) as far as we are publicly aware, he hasnāt made any comment or stance one way or another.
If he stood for his home country I would never condemn him or anyone else for it but Iāve never heard of him saying anything about the war or anything in regards to patriotism. Silly to think we are entitled to making him hate where he comes from just because a war broke out between two countries that isnāt even close to America, lol.
This was a tough post to stomach for sure but I understand and sympathize with every single one of your points, man.
Just an awful situation under any lens and no matter how you frame it.
I hope he gets help for both his sake and the sake of his wife and kid. But like many, heās torn a hole in me that he likely canāt ever repair. Iām willing to bet a number of his teammates and maybe even Bednar feel the same way.,
Imagine any other fucking circumstance where a person could leave a prostitute to OD in their hotel room, and have police body cam footage of her saying that she had her passport stolen, and STILL have people come out saying āwe donāt know what happened we canāt make any judgmentā
This is one step away from Blackhawks territory as far as Iām concerned. If he plays another game after this or they cover up any other bullshit with a player Iām done honestly.
2+2 does = 4. It's a reasonable assumption. Problem is, you don't actually know if it was 2+2. Could be 1.9+1.7...
But most times the simplest explanation is often close.
Bottom line is we don't know why, how, who or exactly what. We can make reasonable assumptions and very well could be right on. But there could be something else. The fact that he wasn't charged with anything may (or may not) be an indication that not everything is exactly as it seems. Or it could be he was given latitude or assistance.
I don't think we know anything more about this woman, or what happened to her after all this. Was Val taking advantage of her via devious people? Did he know her somehow? Did they meet at a bar or something?
One would think (hope) that if it was a human trafficking issue, the authorities would be all over it. Maybe they are and investigations are still going on in the background. Maybe more comes out in a year or two.
Right now, it seems to me (again speculation), Val got addicted to painkillers during and after the cup run. That foot of his was ugly and he was playing on it. Probably on pain killers for months after. Maybe he never got off of them. Maybe another injury came up late last year or in the playoffs, and he thought I can take these and still play... Maybe that continued this year and it got to be too much and went into the program. Came out, quickly went down hill again either injury or mental.
I just hope Val gets right. I'm not sure how I feel about him being on the team next year. Part of me wants him gone, part of me wants him back if he gets right. Yeah, 2 years in a row makes me want the AVS to put a full time bodyguard on him.
This is exactly what I am talking about.
You have evidence directly in your face and say āyou canāt really knowā while at the same time you have talked yourself into a narrative that makes him a āvictimā for being addicted to drugs despite nothing in your proposed scenario being supported by a single quote, article, report, statement or anything of the kind.
But that's the problem. There is a scenario, but no evidence, no information, no nothing, except an extremely intoxicated woman was in his room, and who knows what she said in that state.
I had a neighbor screaming her head off at 2 am one morning, screaming she broke her leg, that her husband had a gun, and might have shot himself in the garage. Turns out he wasn't even home at the time.
Anything that anyone thinks about this is only what we are putting together in our heads to make 2 ish + 2 ish = 4.
We have nothing to go on except the circumstantial scenario.
So what? Heās still a piece of shit for having that woman in his room with a wife at home (pregnant) not to mention during a highly contested playoff series. That is piece of shit behavior.
I don't think anyone is contesting that. What is being contested is the narrative that somehow Nichushkin is responsible for her being a supposed trafficking victim, when in reality all he probably knew is that she would take his money for sex. That's shitty behavior for a married man, no doubt, but it's a lot less shitty than if he's involved with sex trafficking.
i love the Avs but admittedly am the least familiar with them / hockey as a whole out of all major sports. So i have felt pretty out of the loop on this whole situation. Everyone deserves the opportunity to recover in terms of whatever is going on with this drug thing, but I'm leaning towards your side given what I know. Bro left his team and his city high and dry three times. 3 strikes makes it pretty hard for me to want to forgive him. Sort of just seems like a huge scumbag at this point. Some of the boys pressers made it sound like they're pretty fed up as well.
[What kind of absolute clown would pick up a Nuke jersey during this year's playoff run?](https://old.reddit.com/r/ColoradoAvalanche/comments/1crg5p9/how_do_you_do_fellow_clowns/)
The only thing we can hope for at this point is for him to get the help he needs and be fully committed to it.
Maybe in a few years he'll be a nominee for the Bill Masterton to complete the redemption arc. Until then... he's going to go through some shit...
Wow, I didnāt know anything about any of that. I am brand new to hockey and Iām still learning a lot about how the game works, let alone trying to learn about each individual player. I was starting to take a liking to Val because I thought he seemed like a pretty good player (again Iām new to hockey so I donāt really know what Iām talking about or how to really determine a great player, I just didnāt want to seem like I was copying my husband, who has a bromance towards Cale lol). I never heard about that scandal with that poor Ukrainian woman, especially if sheās a trafficking victim. Biiiig yikes from me dawg. I hope he never plays in the NHL again. Also, shame on the rest of the team for trying to protect him from the consequences of his actions. This is why I always say, sports is like ādiet politics.āĀ
Fuck Val, and anybody who cries about how addiction is so hard that a top NHL player can't use 3 lifelines to get his shit back together. You forgave him after Seattle, and you are forgiving him now. Are you going to forgive him when he goes into stage 4? Because he isn't ever going to learn the lesson.
Very well said. I donāt hate the guy, but heās clearly made very bad choices in his personal life that I wish werenāt swept under the rug so often just because of his athletic prowess (but such is life). The Avs decision making in his contract could not properly weigh all of this because, after they won the Cup, none of it had surfaced.
Just a terrible situation all around. Nuke is a terrific player, I just wish his decisions could have been different, such as not ending up in a situation where you have to abandon a Ukrainian born Russian woman in your hotel room on a road trip due to her intoxication. Or getting caught relapsing during the playoffs.
>where you have to abandon
There was no āHAVE TOā. Nichushkin made a choice to abandon that woman. He chose the path that provided the greatest chance for him to escape consequences, with zero regard for her health and safety. The saddest part is that it worked. An overwhelming majority of people were completely unaware of the incident because honestly the Avs organization did an excellent PR job in whisking him away and sweeping things under the rug.
This time last year there āwasnāt enough informationā and any Avs fan willing to comment on the situation was trying to deflect and claim that any criticism of this piece of human garbage was just jealousy because they were (at the time) the reigning cup champions.
I donāt want to say Iām *glad* he relapsed. Itās really sad for his family, but I *am* glad that *because of this relapse* he is now finally receiving proper scrutiny and the consequences that he honestly should have faced a year agoā¦
I am not Ukrainian, but I support Ukraine in their fight for freedom and their right to exist. I felt many of the same feelings as you did supporting the team and Nichushkin. It felt dirty to wear his jersey, or even to have it.
After this, I'm done with him. He can get sent back to Moscow for all I care. Enjoy the front lines.
I'm a Stars fan, and I wish we weren't playing you guys this round because of all the Nichushkin drama, because otherwise the two fanbases could really commiserate over this guy. Top 10 draft pick, has an OK rookie year, then has hip surgery and he's gone for a year. Plays one more season, then heads to Russia for two years because he doesn't like his RFA contract. Ok, that's all fine - part of the business of hockey - but frustrating from a fan's perspective. In 2018 Russia is banned from the Olympics for doping, but Russian athletes are allowed to play, except Val. Curiously, he's one of 5 Russian hockey players specifically not invited to the games. Then there's the 18-19 season, where Val set an impossible-to-break record for doing nothing.
I thought for sure he was going to last one season with you guys. When he stuck around and earned another contract and was an animal in the playoffs it was more heartbreak for me as a Stars fan, because I wanted him to play that way when I was cheering for him.
In any case, when he had his "troubles" this time last year I wasn't surprised, and I'm not surprised now, at all. I hope he gets help, and I hope his wife and kid are safe. Otherwise, I hope this guy plays the rest of his years in Russia and I don't see him on NHL ice again.
Yeah this guys view boils down to āIām pissed he was doing good with you guys but now Iām content that heās turned out to be a piece of shit for you tooā
The name "players assistance program" really makes people feel like this is some voluntary thing and he's a tough real man for admitting he needed help. Dude got forced into it because he wasn't kicking his habit.
I wish you'd give this much sympathy to any dude working at a mine site who fails a piss test because he did too much coke on his last shift out. Actually, I don't. Because they don't deserve much sympathy either.
We don't have the full story, we don't know the details, so it is totally possible that I'm wrong and he was prescribed opiates and had a crooked doctor and he is simply so addicted that despite begging for help twice he has fallen into the rut again. But given what we do know, I am not considering that to be the most likely scenario. I would shut up about this but all the bleating about the pain of addiction seems like people are reflecting on their own families and crises and not this guy, his resources, his supports, and his past behaviour.
I'd be pretty sympathetic to a miner getting turfed just because he enjoyed coke in his downtime, so long as he's not bringing any into the jobsite what's the real issue?
his doctor is the team doctor, presumably, and if he's addicted to pain pills, the team could cover that up via having it prescribed to him for ongoing injuries. They helped cover up the Seattle thing so why wouldn't they here too? I don't think it's painkillers.
That's my assumption. I said it in another thread, we're all told the docs hand them out like candy so even if he's abusing painkillers he can probably get a legit prescription so how could you tell he's taking more than prescribed if you expect a positive test result.
There are databases that track prescriptions. Those with access could look up any name and see every prescription they've filled and who the prescribing doctor was, along with which pharmacy filled the prescription. Ideally, pharmacists are supposed to check and if they notice they are the 4th pharmacy filling an opiod script from the third different doctor, they are supposed to report this immediately to the state and each provider that has prescribed it. I've seen plenty of medical records (which is my field of expertise) where doctors have had to tell their patients nope, you aren't getting any more prescription from here (if they don't just terminate the patient from the practice immediately - many will).
That's fair but the story says he failed a drug test. I assume it would say if there was a medical determination that he was being overprescribed or something.
This has definitely given me pause.
Did I turn a blind eye to these events simply because he's such a good player and important part of this team? Shame.
We are all disappointed in the way things happened.
You seem to be taking this overly personally though. Just let it go. Though I suppose if the extent of your disappointment is a rant on a hockey forum...then get it out and move on.
Okay, but Nichuskin literally has zero to do with that besides being born in the country
Should we hate all American born players when the States were invading Iraq or Afghanistan? I can't recall a single player coming out and saying they were against it
Dude had a shitty attitude when he was with the Stars and has really doubled down on his reputation the last couple years. I get why fans give him a pass though. He's an elite talent and that goes a really long way.
I'm sad to see this turn, but it's time for the league to let Nuke go. Let him figure his shit out and go play in Russia for a couple years. When he's got his demons under control, somebody in the NHL can take another chance on him.
Can someone give me a quick rundown on how this affects our salary cap over the next few years? I'm not knowledgeable on the topic and my initial conclusion would've been that once he is off the team then that salary amount would be cleared up. Please help.
Nobody can say at this moment - He may be protected due to being in the Player assistance program OR there could have been something added to his contract saying that if it happened again he could be cut.
It would be wild if we just had to keep him on the roster because we couldn't clear up the salary space. I'm sure there would be more than a couple teammates upset by having to play with him again. Same with us fans.
As everyone else as said, Avs are still on the hook from what we know. While he's suspended, the Avs cap isn't touched, but once reinstated, it becomes an issue.
If the Avs decide to get rid of him, they could trade him, but he has a No Move Clause making things difficult.
If they buy him out, they have to pay his contract at 2/3rds for twice the remaining years left on his contract (4.1mil x 12 years). There are some calculations for how that affects the cap, but I'm too dumb to do that calculation.
More info here: https://www.capfriendly.com/buyout-faq
Assuming the Avs are unable to cut him (which seems likely at the moment)
[$6.125M/year cap hit until 2030](https://www.capfriendly.com/players/valeri-nichushkin)
Plus or minus however long it takes to get approval to re-join the league (6 month minimum, but needs approval from the NHL)
He has a full No Move Clause until 2025, so he can't be traded unless he agrees to it. And then he still has a modified No Trade Clause after that, so it'll still be difficult to trade him.
You fucking nailed it. I still think itās a black eye on the organization that they went mum on what was pretty clearly a human trafficking incident. Fucking sickening.
What happened mid-season? If something like this happened & they let is slide after last April I'm going to go apeshit. (Wasn't able to follow the regular season this year)
not the team's choice - Val was placed into the player assistance program suddenly on January 15th and didn't return till March 8th. It was framed at the time as if he were voluntarily seeking help, but it now comes out that he had quietly been in the program already- likely a diversion to avoid punishment for the Deatrle incident - so this was a mandatory Level 2 stint in the program for violating the terms of release from Level 1.
For what it's worth, the Avs had been 28-12-3 before his suspension but lost 10 of 21 with him out. Considering they were only 2 wins under Dalls with the top seed in the division at season's end, that may have cost them home ice advantage in this series. He also mysteriously missed 4 games starting on March 28th after he got back, and they dropped two of those four. When asked why he wasn't at practice on the 27th, Bednar said only, "Valās got a little something going on, so weāll just see tomorrow,ā Avalanche Head Coach Jared Bednar said. āItās not going to be long-term, but itās something that could possibly keep him out.ā We all assumed he was hurt but now who even knows?
The point is, we lost 15 games between January and early April when he wasn't there after starting out really well with and his $6 mil per year, 8 year contract out there as planned. His stupid self-inflicted wounds have cost the team dearly over the past two playoff runs and may handcuff our roster with the salary cap for the better part of a decade now to boot. Even if he comes back and produces, he's going to be a bad presence in thr locker room and it will be very difficult for some of us to find much joy in celebrating the goals he scores for us in the future if he does find his way back.
Very immature take. When things like this happen you realise hockey is not the most important thing in the world. Even hockey players are human, regardless of their pay and goal scoring abilityā¦
how is that contrary to my point? That girl being trafficked or at minimum left in an extremely vulnerable medical condition by a dickhead millionaire whose pregnant wife was resting at home and whose employer needed him to be giving his best deserved justice, but the team did everything it could to shield him from consequences solely and exclusively because they wanted him to play hockey for them.
I'll repeat this: being an addict does not excuse you from consequences or automatically mean you're a good person with a problem. Sometimes shitheads become addicts also. Val appears to be a shithead and we all screwed up in giving him a pass for ehat he did last year in the name of getting more goal production. Fuck him
My thoughts exactly. He's a Putin-supporting revanchist and the only time I can support him is when he's on the ice. If he's not on the ice, I want nothing to do with him.
it was an immediate and direct rebuttal to some other dude's "Iove you Val" post but I guess if you don't sort by new you don't see the nuanced. My bad
human first, fan second. There's no end-of-life prize for the most blindly loyal fans of a sports team who forgive even the most egregious cheating, goon shit and crimes. You look like at least as much of a loser to me as I apparently do to you, and I think you should grow an identity and moral code beyond unconditional allegiance to every uniformed employee of your local entertainment franchise
Agree with this minus the mid-season thing. I thought that was him finally trying to be responsible and take care of a problem that was harming him and everyone around him, but clearly it didn't last.
no, we now know by the fact that he is in Level 3 violation, that the mid-season absence was forced upon him as a violation for the undisclosed first violation. Girard's may have been voluntary, but Nichushkin's first absence was kept hidden just as his awful behavior in the Seattle hotel was covered up and the second absence, which again came with no public acknowledgement of getting good help or needing to work on himself, was mandated by violation of the terms of the level 1 incident plan.
Letās hope you never struggle with anything and have millions point a finger at you and spew hate and vitriol towards you.
I love val, but Jesus fuck I now hate you!
A little cringe making this all about you. Direct your hate at the drugs and Putin. Valās just a hockey player who has a drug problem and happens to be Russian.
I can't even begin to imagine what your country is going through, but this ain't it bro.
Edit: making the Val debacle all about yourself is as cringe as it fucking gets. Downvote all you want, I'll die on this hill
Dude is Ukrainian, has Russian on his team he roots for, Russian may have banged potentially trafficked women who is Ukrainian, Russian man goes back home and poses with guns while Ukraine is being invaded. Thats just the truth, I donāt think he made this about himself by pointing out how that makes him feel, especially when 99% of us on this sub donāt have that perspective.
Donāt push mongo
Sorry to say it, but the Avs had this one coming, Val had shown plenty of times what kind of a man he is and yet the organization decided to keep him in the team.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
can i intorduce you to nikita zadorov who has been outspoken against russia
yep, Panarin too! much respect
Z is a great dude! I met him in Calgary when he was still playing for the flames and he was very kind he also did a lot of charity work with the flames around the city too.
Bro I seen him in the wild in Calgary downtown, I'm 6'4" and about 180. Dude made me feel petite. Absolute unit of a human being. Super friggen nice too.
i miss big z
Canucks fan here. Will take care of him for you.
Go get cup
But Cole has got to go.
Just a fair warning, if you thought Edmonton fans were insufferable, wait until you have to deal with Dallas fans.
Lets just deal with Edmonton first š
Oh, for sure. I'm just trying to manifest another Oilers loss, because fuck Evander Kane, fuck Darnell Nurse, and it'd be so fucking funny if McBaby takes another L. Vancouver also likely has a better chance at beating Dallas, so there's that. Dallas are my #2 hated team, behind only Detroit.
We love him and promise to take good care of him. Please do the same for Kuzy.
We don't have Kuzy, he's on the other disaster team
i miss him
Oilers fan here, hoping Vancouver screws up their free agency summer bungling Zadorof and Hronek's contract process. Z has been a pain in the ass against the Oilers. Huge guy with heart and ready to dish out the physical punishment is what every team needs during the playoffs. Respect !
Thanks?
All in good fun! Watching Leafs sports radio and those guys are salivating over the fantasy of signing Zā¦ sign the man for $6M long term and build around him. But maybe you canāt afford Hronek
Val is getting way too much grace. Millionaire Russian busted with drugs and a trafficked prostitute. That's a movie villian. Not someone that deserves grace.
Yeah and hes still not eligible for termination after repeatedly failing drug tests. No one else in the whole damn world gets that much grace, theres no good reason that Val should.
Oh I don't know, I've known folks who've been obviously drunk at work for years in union shops and managed not to get fired. My ex's dad was one of them. He only ended up out of the job when he finally drank himself to death (liver failure)
Theres a difference between alcohol and illegal drugs though in the eyes of a majority of workplaces. Being an alcoholic is socially acceptable up to a certain point, hard drugs not so much.
Which is stupid. Alcohol is worse then hard drugs
Oh, any Russian is eligible for termination.
I made a post just like this, and it got dowmvoted into oblivion. Pick a lane people.
What happened this most recent time? Was it literally hookers again? I haven't heard.
As a fellow Ukrainian, my love for a player isnāt limited by borders despite whatās been going on. Thereās plenty of Russian players that I love. I hate Val because he betrayed the Avalanche. I know addiction is hard but this is strike 3 and I have little sympathy for a multi-millionaire with loads of access to addiction support, especially when his profession is one that many would kill to have
>Thereās plenty of Russian players that I love. Big Z for sure
Hes slovakian
He was born in Russia.
yeah I'm cool with any Russian who supports Ukraine or speaks out about it. I used to run into Ovechkin periodically and we were always cordial to each other until his "Save Donbass children" post. It was so disappointing because the thing is, he's just kinda dumb and friendly for the most part and is just a tool for these guys, but he's happy to go along because of his fsmilt legscy of being prominent and well-connected sports stars there.
Just my two cents, but hey, as a former addict (7 years sober, 8 in July. Not bad when you're 33!) I feel like this might carry a bit of weight. Addiction is a disease. No doubt. Beating addiction is hard. Hardest thing I've ever done. Again, no doubt. But just because you have a disease doesn't mean you get a free pass. It means you have an extra challenge, and hopefully, some extra understanding when you slip up. That's what you're entitled to. Val clearly isn't taking this seriously, and clearly isn't putting his whole effort in. And you need a whole effort to beat addiction. It sucks that it's a struggle for him. Lots of people can do drugs and not get addicted. Lots of people can have alcohol every weekend and not get addicted (unlike myself). I /do/ have sympathy for his condition. What I don't have sympathy for is his lack of effort. As a younger recovered addict, I've had more than a dozen people reach out to me for advice and help. Only one of them got sober. The rest? Lip service, talked about it, then expected me to hold their hand every time they messed up. And I didn't. Because Rock Bottom is sometimes necessary. Right now Val is thinking "Well if can't be that bad, in a successful hockey star making millions!". Maybe losing the job, the fame, the status gets him to rock bottom and gets him to actually put his whole effort into sobriety.
A bit off track, but I think itās really cool that even one person who reached out to you got sober. You were a part of that. Thatās incredible. Well done.
Glad you were one of the successful ones.
Very well said! Congrats on your ongoing sobriety!
that's my thought, thank you for saying. My dad was an addict and it was awful at times - some verbal fights and hurtful words when he was high or in withdrawal, a harrowing trip home from a bar when I was a kid and he clearly wasn't in the right shape to drive, various incidents of him stumbling and falling and having having go to the ER, holes blown in the family budget, occasions missed due to being in bed or in no shape to leave the house, secrets kept, embarrassing discoveries of things hidden around the house, humiliating drug-seeking behavior incidents with family friends recovering from surgeries, an inability to confront hard things directly when there was an "escape" available, times I couldn't have people around including my own kids because of his state of intoxication, a few instances of getting lost in the city or in trouble at work or wrecking his car, health problems that took him too soon... he was battling demons and he made some mistakes that I'm sad to say sometimes put people in danger. I forgive him and am proud of him for getting clean or trying hard to, even if it was too late to truly save him. But while he had a chemical dependence and was trying to change away some deep old pain, he wasn't physically abusive. He didn't cheat on our mom. He was a gentle, kind, smart person with a problem and anyone who really knew him could see both aspects of him. Most people only ever saw the good. Val is quite clearly an entitled asshole, not just an addict. Being addicted may make you desperate for money and sometimes aggressive, but I don't think you csn blame it for every bad thing a horny, rich, entitled athlete does. Look at Josh Hamilton- when he relapsed, he didn't just get drunk, he went out immediately and found someone to have sex with in the bathroom of the bar. His wife left him and took the kids while he was clean and allegedly devout. He was also allegedly clean when he assaulted his teenage daughter. Does he get a pass for all that? Or look at Steven Tyler. He has had struggles with addiction and been through rehab. Does that excuse the time he took legal guardianship of a minor for the purposes of "legally" having sex with her, then coercing her into an abortion, and even in the past year arguing that his guardianship of her makes it all legal? Sometimes addicts are shitheads too
Aerosmith fans will tell you it's all good cause he wrote Janie's Got a Gun
Oh wow, I didnāt know the Aerosmith story. Thatās super gross.Ā
As a former addiction counselor I have to agree, it's the lack of effort. I saw people dealing with addiction that made their recovery #1 and succeed and other give lip service and fail. Bless you for helping those that reached out to you. Congratulations on your sobriety.
two things are allowed to be true: You can feel sorry for the human and his sickness and hope he gets the help he needs for his family and his child. You can be angry because he let his team down twice.
Arguably 3 times, if you consider that his absence Jan-Mar definitely affected our playoff seeding negatively.
Not even arguably. Once last yearās playoffs, twice this year
Tbf, OOP also makes a good case that the human is also not much to write home about.
This is the camp I'm in
Bang on, brother.
The dude had more opportunities than anybody else in any other capacity would be afforded. He continuously made poor choices over and over again. My sympathies are with his wife and kid. My sympathies are with the teammates that sacrificed all year only to be let down by this foolā¦.again. I have zero sympathy for this dude not figuring his life out. We all have to make choices every single day.
I hope somehow they can get out of this contract. Or at least not a hit against the cap. I think Landy is done, with all that cap space and it projected to go up 5 million next year, we could add some good pieces. I hope Mack has a good chat with Crosby in the summer and he comes to Denver. Sid is getting older but still producing and having him in the lock room would be a massive morale booster. This is just my wish list
Nuke will remain suspended, and that means no pay, and no cap hit. He's eligible to reapply after 6 months, but the league would set the conditions for him to return. I'd guess they would set the bar REALLY high. Imagine the league saying, "Your suspension will end after you submit to a program of daily drug tests with clean results for six months then random and weekly testing after that, as well as successfully completing rehab as well as weekly substance abuse counseling. You can no also longer associate with any of the shady characters you thought were your friends." I'd guess they'll make it so intrusive that Val will just decide to go play in Russia. His name has been removed from the locker room. The team has moved on.
It just sucks to have that uncertainty. Clearly the team no longer wants him in the locker room, but until its clear whether he will return to Russia or will try to get his shit together, we have his dead cap tying us up from making any FA signings. Can't believe after all the org did to him, this is how he repays them.
THIS. His team brothers forgave him and welcomed him back (as far as we knew), and so did we fans. He got his cute nicknames back and we cheered for each goal. We donāt stop loving people because they struggle with addiction. But I love Matty Perryās autobiography, as he admits that his hellish lifelong addictions WERE NOT GOOD EXCUSES for hurting people. If Val paid attention in rehab, he had a lot to prove in his sober life. One big thing is to understand that relapsing comes with responsibility to back out of the team before playoffs so they can plan. He did the same thing he did last year. Screwed them up at the last Minute before a big game. We can be pissed as hell at that.
>His name has been removed from the locker room. Is that just a reflection of who is considered currently active, or do they leave up the names of other long term inactive players, like say Landeskog, as long as they're still in good standing with the team?
My understanding is that Landeskog has a locker space with his name on it. Nuke does not.
Damn, well if that's the case, removing his name seems like a pretty definitive move then!
What I find amazing is that the league has erased his name from the playoff stats entirely. Technically, he should still be leading the league in playoff goals.. but... he's gone!
Crazy rule spinning.... Addiction based syptoms can be classed as a disability, could Nuke be put on LTIR?
I've dealt personally with my own addiction and those of family & close friends. I've been the asshole that let them down (repeatedly), and have been let down. Addiction is a motherfucker, and it can be simultaneously true that the person is a victim of a merciless disease, and an absolutely awesome person, and acting like a total dirtbag. I'm pissed at Val, and I sympathize with him.
I live in Dallas, I had a custom made chu chu jersey made with cup patch and all and I loved wearing it hereā¦ and now I just canāt anymore itās a shame really.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Itās sounding like that wasnāt actually voluntary for Choo earlier this season. He triggered Stage 2 by failing a drug test. Otherwise he wouldnāt be in Stage 3. Big difference between that and Sammy realizing himself he needed help.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
you issue an apology for leaving the team in the playoffs under ugly circumstances, not necessarily for the Level 2 thing. But taking accountability and thanking your teammates for their patience would ahev helped even without an apology. Instead, he said "I think let's just close it" in a testy manner after posting tone-deaf wild Instagram pics instead of showing an ounce of contrition or humility
but that's the thing, we now know, since he's in Level 3, that it wasn't voluntary after all. It was a violation of his Level 1 agreement, and whatever he did to come back after it clearly didn't take, at all
Slava Ukraini! Fuck Putin! I have every reason to sympathize with those suffering from substance abuse disorders, but the sex trafficking victim is what really erodes a lot of my patience and goodwill towards the man. For this to happen a second time during the playoffs is a betrayal that I struggle to forgive.
I hope he wakes up and gets the help he needs. I also hope he's no longer our problem after the suspension. Good player but also proving to be a massive liability.
I live in Finland, we share a long border with russia. I have been raised listening to my grandfathers talk about the war where Russia invaded Finland. Now Ukraine, I hope Ukraine can hold and get the help they need. At the same time in Finland there are a lot of Russians, and some are even family friends, really nice people. But fuck Putin, fuck Russia and I hope that country gets split in to pieces and they will be in civil wars for the next 40 years.
You said this so well and put my thoughts into words. Iāve felt so conflicted all season cheering for him and Iāve found myself resenting a team I love so dearly because of it. Iām so glad Iām not alone in this. Iām not Ukrainian but I canāt even imagine how it must have felt for you.
Val is responsible for his actions as a player, man, and husband. He is not responsible for the actions of his country, just the same as any of us arent responsible for ours (unless youre a politician i guess?). Him posing with a gun is no different than anyone else posing with one. We dont know what happened in Seattle and probably never will. There are so many possibilities, its unfair to assume the unknown. What we do know is he has a problem staying clean. Whether from addiction or pure lack of responsibility. We do know he let the team down. We dont know what led him to do that. Addiction, and in a larger scope mental health issue, is a different beast that I pray people dont have to deal with, and if that is the issue, I hope he is able to get the help and change he needs to be able to be a great man in his future life. We can be disappointed that he failed and let the team down, but its unfair to judge fully from a distance without understanding that there are so many possibilities that led him down the road and to this destination.
Well said
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
It's tough. These guys who play pro sports, especially the ones who are making a ton of money to do it, are not well-positioned to make smart decisions. They get a ton of money and fame yet are under significant public scrutiny and constant stress to perform. I'm not defending HIM in particular, but this is sadly very common and is simply an unfortunate reality of following pro (and often college!) sports. I was willing to let him get his shit together after the Seattle incident and was willing for him to be out for so long mid-season, but I'll be fucking pissed if I ever see him in an Avs sweater EVER again.
Fanbase was very quick to forget once he started scoring goals. Which is fairly true across all sports and teams, but I wish it wasnāt. Feel like if youāre getting paid millions to play a sport being a decent person should be the bare minimum.
if he played for Vegas or Dallas or Minnesota we'd have been howling for him to be kicked out if the league after the Sesttle incident
So he'll be an Oiler next season.
Bingo
I donāt agree that people were quick to forget. I think from the outside it appeared that he had a good reason for this and his brothers forgave him coming back into this season. I had a long debate last year on whether we can trust Nuke again and my buddy pointed to the seeming reactance this season. If MacK can live with it, I can maybe live with it.Ā
Theyāre more employees than brothers imo. If my company rehired or chose not to fire someone, Iām still going to work with them and be cordial. Especially if Iām getting paid millions to do so.
You weren't allowed to hold this position 2 days ago on this sub, but you're 100% correct.
Removed. Remember the human.
Last night I was disappointed and just hoping he would make the changes he needed to before it's too late. And while I still feel that way to some level, I have also grown very angry thinking about his family and the teammates and coaches he hurt with his actions AGAIN. He has been given so much support and love from this fanbase and his teammates and this is the thanks that everyone gets? Yeah, I feel you 100%. I've been through addiction myself and had to end it mostly on my own, without the support of a billion dollar organization and with little to my name. I almost died at one point due to my addiction. But I knew I needed to turn it around. This guy has all this goddamn support and he has screwed everyone who was behind him.
Am I mad, Yes but do I hope he gets the right hope and he recovers, yes Iām mad that heās lost his loyalty and canāt be trusted after 3 times and has screwed up the lineup but I seriously hope he gets help and recovers because this is serious for even just him family and later in life
Ja Morant of the NHL
Addiction is a hell of a drug. Russians are built different and not always for the best.
To me, the whole Russia thing is way more inexcusable than addiction. Addiction is a tough disease to deal with, it doesn't care if you're homeless or a millionaire. Mental health is complicated, it's tough to deal with whatever demons you may have, especially as no one knows exactly how to help the chemical imbalance in your brain. It can be years of hard work and trial and error of various meds before you get it right. The Russian thing though? Fuck that. I was born and raised in Slovakia, 20 km from the Ukrainian border. Russia fucked my home over in '48 by orchestrating a Communist Coup, then again by invading in '68. And now they spend tens of millions on friggin disinformation propaganda. Fuck them and anyone who lets themselves be used as a tool in that.
What āRussianā thing are you talking about? As far as I am aware, and I may be wrong, he never peddled Russian propaganda.
Not really a stretch to say heās highly likely to be indifferent to the war at best and Pro-Putin at worst.
I suppose, but saying fuck him for the āRussian thingā is asinine, especially when (again I could be wrong) as far as we are publicly aware, he hasnāt made any comment or stance one way or another.
If he stood for his home country I would never condemn him or anyone else for it but Iāve never heard of him saying anything about the war or anything in regards to patriotism. Silly to think we are entitled to making him hate where he comes from just because a war broke out between two countries that isnāt even close to America, lol.
"The whole Russian thing?" You mean the fact that he's Russian and hasn't said anything about the war?
This was a tough post to stomach for sure but I understand and sympathize with every single one of your points, man. Just an awful situation under any lens and no matter how you frame it. I hope he gets help for both his sake and the sake of his wife and kid. But like many, heās torn a hole in me that he likely canāt ever repair. Iām willing to bet a number of his teammates and maybe even Bednar feel the same way.,
Imagine any other fucking circumstance where a person could leave a prostitute to OD in their hotel room, and have police body cam footage of her saying that she had her passport stolen, and STILL have people come out saying āwe donāt know what happened we canāt make any judgmentā
hel, just imagine if he was on any other team when it happened and how differently we'd feel
This is one step away from Blackhawks territory as far as Iām concerned. If he plays another game after this or they cover up any other bullshit with a player Iām done honestly.
2+2 does = 4. It's a reasonable assumption. Problem is, you don't actually know if it was 2+2. Could be 1.9+1.7... But most times the simplest explanation is often close. Bottom line is we don't know why, how, who or exactly what. We can make reasonable assumptions and very well could be right on. But there could be something else. The fact that he wasn't charged with anything may (or may not) be an indication that not everything is exactly as it seems. Or it could be he was given latitude or assistance. I don't think we know anything more about this woman, or what happened to her after all this. Was Val taking advantage of her via devious people? Did he know her somehow? Did they meet at a bar or something? One would think (hope) that if it was a human trafficking issue, the authorities would be all over it. Maybe they are and investigations are still going on in the background. Maybe more comes out in a year or two. Right now, it seems to me (again speculation), Val got addicted to painkillers during and after the cup run. That foot of his was ugly and he was playing on it. Probably on pain killers for months after. Maybe he never got off of them. Maybe another injury came up late last year or in the playoffs, and he thought I can take these and still play... Maybe that continued this year and it got to be too much and went into the program. Came out, quickly went down hill again either injury or mental. I just hope Val gets right. I'm not sure how I feel about him being on the team next year. Part of me wants him gone, part of me wants him back if he gets right. Yeah, 2 years in a row makes me want the AVS to put a full time bodyguard on him.
You are trying too hard to avoid reality. In all likelihood, the guy is a shit bag.
This is exactly what I am talking about. You have evidence directly in your face and say āyou canāt really knowā while at the same time you have talked yourself into a narrative that makes him a āvictimā for being addicted to drugs despite nothing in your proposed scenario being supported by a single quote, article, report, statement or anything of the kind.
But that's the problem. There is a scenario, but no evidence, no information, no nothing, except an extremely intoxicated woman was in his room, and who knows what she said in that state. I had a neighbor screaming her head off at 2 am one morning, screaming she broke her leg, that her husband had a gun, and might have shot himself in the garage. Turns out he wasn't even home at the time. Anything that anyone thinks about this is only what we are putting together in our heads to make 2 ish + 2 ish = 4. We have nothing to go on except the circumstantial scenario.
So what? Heās still a piece of shit for having that woman in his room with a wife at home (pregnant) not to mention during a highly contested playoff series. That is piece of shit behavior.
I don't think anyone is contesting that. What is being contested is the narrative that somehow Nichushkin is responsible for her being a supposed trafficking victim, when in reality all he probably knew is that she would take his money for sex. That's shitty behavior for a married man, no doubt, but it's a lot less shitty than if he's involved with sex trafficking.
Yeah and I never saw Epstein with any under age girls either. Iām done with this conversation.
i love the Avs but admittedly am the least familiar with them / hockey as a whole out of all major sports. So i have felt pretty out of the loop on this whole situation. Everyone deserves the opportunity to recover in terms of whatever is going on with this drug thing, but I'm leaning towards your side given what I know. Bro left his team and his city high and dry three times. 3 strikes makes it pretty hard for me to want to forgive him. Sort of just seems like a huge scumbag at this point. Some of the boys pressers made it sound like they're pretty fed up as well.
To think I almost purchased a jersey with his name on it. What a disgrace.
[What kind of absolute clown would pick up a Nuke jersey during this year's playoff run?](https://old.reddit.com/r/ColoradoAvalanche/comments/1crg5p9/how_do_you_do_fellow_clowns/)
The only thing we can hope for at this point is for him to get the help he needs and be fully committed to it. Maybe in a few years he'll be a nominee for the Bill Masterton to complete the redemption arc. Until then... he's going to go through some shit...
I hope he gets the hell he needs
You're right hes just another entitled pos athlete.
I donāt hate the guy. But I have zero respect for him.
Wow, I didnāt know anything about any of that. I am brand new to hockey and Iām still learning a lot about how the game works, let alone trying to learn about each individual player. I was starting to take a liking to Val because I thought he seemed like a pretty good player (again Iām new to hockey so I donāt really know what Iām talking about or how to really determine a great player, I just didnāt want to seem like I was copying my husband, who has a bromance towards Cale lol). I never heard about that scandal with that poor Ukrainian woman, especially if sheās a trafficking victim. Biiiig yikes from me dawg. I hope he never plays in the NHL again. Also, shame on the rest of the team for trying to protect him from the consequences of his actions. This is why I always say, sports is like ādiet politics.āĀ
Fuck Val, and anybody who cries about how addiction is so hard that a top NHL player can't use 3 lifelines to get his shit back together. You forgave him after Seattle, and you are forgiving him now. Are you going to forgive him when he goes into stage 4? Because he isn't ever going to learn the lesson.
Very well said. I donāt hate the guy, but heās clearly made very bad choices in his personal life that I wish werenāt swept under the rug so often just because of his athletic prowess (but such is life). The Avs decision making in his contract could not properly weigh all of this because, after they won the Cup, none of it had surfaced. Just a terrible situation all around. Nuke is a terrific player, I just wish his decisions could have been different, such as not ending up in a situation where you have to abandon a Ukrainian born Russian woman in your hotel room on a road trip due to her intoxication. Or getting caught relapsing during the playoffs.
>where you have to abandon There was no āHAVE TOā. Nichushkin made a choice to abandon that woman. He chose the path that provided the greatest chance for him to escape consequences, with zero regard for her health and safety. The saddest part is that it worked. An overwhelming majority of people were completely unaware of the incident because honestly the Avs organization did an excellent PR job in whisking him away and sweeping things under the rug. This time last year there āwasnāt enough informationā and any Avs fan willing to comment on the situation was trying to deflect and claim that any criticism of this piece of human garbage was just jealousy because they were (at the time) the reigning cup champions. I donāt want to say Iām *glad* he relapsed. Itās really sad for his family, but I *am* glad that *because of this relapse* he is now finally receiving proper scrutiny and the consequences that he honestly should have faced a year agoā¦
I am not Ukrainian, but I support Ukraine in their fight for freedom and their right to exist. I felt many of the same feelings as you did supporting the team and Nichushkin. It felt dirty to wear his jersey, or even to have it. After this, I'm done with him. He can get sent back to Moscow for all I care. Enjoy the front lines.
I'm a Stars fan, and I wish we weren't playing you guys this round because of all the Nichushkin drama, because otherwise the two fanbases could really commiserate over this guy. Top 10 draft pick, has an OK rookie year, then has hip surgery and he's gone for a year. Plays one more season, then heads to Russia for two years because he doesn't like his RFA contract. Ok, that's all fine - part of the business of hockey - but frustrating from a fan's perspective. In 2018 Russia is banned from the Olympics for doping, but Russian athletes are allowed to play, except Val. Curiously, he's one of 5 Russian hockey players specifically not invited to the games. Then there's the 18-19 season, where Val set an impossible-to-break record for doing nothing. I thought for sure he was going to last one season with you guys. When he stuck around and earned another contract and was an animal in the playoffs it was more heartbreak for me as a Stars fan, because I wanted him to play that way when I was cheering for him. In any case, when he had his "troubles" this time last year I wasn't surprised, and I'm not surprised now, at all. I hope he gets help, and I hope his wife and kid are safe. Otherwise, I hope this guy plays the rest of his years in Russia and I don't see him on NHL ice again.
I didnt know/realize he was one of 5 Russians to be not invited to the games.. Would he have been in considered to make/play on their 2018 team?
I completely forgot about the mysterious Olympic absence, but sure enough. Good lord, the baggage on this guy never ends
Man fuck off back to your own sub. No one wants to hear The Stars Fan Perspective.
Yeah this guys view boils down to āIām pissed he was doing good with you guys but now Iām content that heās turned out to be a piece of shit for you tooā
Nah, I wish he played to his potential, and he let both teams down. Thats it.
The name "players assistance program" really makes people feel like this is some voluntary thing and he's a tough real man for admitting he needed help. Dude got forced into it because he wasn't kicking his habit. I wish you'd give this much sympathy to any dude working at a mine site who fails a piss test because he did too much coke on his last shift out. Actually, I don't. Because they don't deserve much sympathy either. We don't have the full story, we don't know the details, so it is totally possible that I'm wrong and he was prescribed opiates and had a crooked doctor and he is simply so addicted that despite begging for help twice he has fallen into the rut again. But given what we do know, I am not considering that to be the most likely scenario. I would shut up about this but all the bleating about the pain of addiction seems like people are reflecting on their own families and crises and not this guy, his resources, his supports, and his past behaviour.
I'd be pretty sympathetic to a miner getting turfed just because he enjoyed coke in his downtime, so long as he's not bringing any into the jobsite what's the real issue?
his doctor is the team doctor, presumably, and if he's addicted to pain pills, the team could cover that up via having it prescribed to him for ongoing injuries. They helped cover up the Seattle thing so why wouldn't they here too? I don't think it's painkillers.
That's my assumption. I said it in another thread, we're all told the docs hand them out like candy so even if he's abusing painkillers he can probably get a legit prescription so how could you tell he's taking more than prescribed if you expect a positive test result.
There are databases that track prescriptions. Those with access could look up any name and see every prescription they've filled and who the prescribing doctor was, along with which pharmacy filled the prescription. Ideally, pharmacists are supposed to check and if they notice they are the 4th pharmacy filling an opiod script from the third different doctor, they are supposed to report this immediately to the state and each provider that has prescribed it. I've seen plenty of medical records (which is my field of expertise) where doctors have had to tell their patients nope, you aren't getting any more prescription from here (if they don't just terminate the patient from the practice immediately - many will).
That's fair but the story says he failed a drug test. I assume it would say if there was a medical determination that he was being overprescribed or something.
As a fan, it sucks, but calm down. He's still a person, it's not like he stole your first born child. Bring it down a bit.
This has definitely given me pause. Did I turn a blind eye to these events simply because he's such a good player and important part of this team? Shame.
We are all disappointed in the way things happened. You seem to be taking this overly personally though. Just let it go. Though I suppose if the extent of your disappointment is a rant on a hockey forum...then get it out and move on.
You'd probably take it more personally if your country was under constant bombardment. I think we all would.
Okay, but Nichuskin literally has zero to do with that besides being born in the country Should we hate all American born players when the States were invading Iraq or Afghanistan? I can't recall a single player coming out and saying they were against it
Agree completely
Valid
Well I hate you too, Burdwatcher!
for the 100th time, this was an immediate rebuttal to the hopeless Sao who wrote "I love you Val Nichushkin" in the post right before mine
Dude had a shitty attitude when he was with the Stars and has really doubled down on his reputation the last couple years. I get why fans give him a pass though. He's an elite talent and that goes a really long way. I'm sad to see this turn, but it's time for the league to let Nuke go. Let him figure his shit out and go play in Russia for a couple years. When he's got his demons under control, somebody in the NHL can take another chance on him.
# Nichushkin's a piece of shit
Can someone give me a quick rundown on how this affects our salary cap over the next few years? I'm not knowledgeable on the topic and my initial conclusion would've been that once he is off the team then that salary amount would be cleared up. Please help.
Nobody can say at this moment - He may be protected due to being in the Player assistance program OR there could have been something added to his contract saying that if it happened again he could be cut.
It would be wild if we just had to keep him on the roster because we couldn't clear up the salary space. I'm sure there would be more than a couple teammates upset by having to play with him again. Same with us fans.
As everyone else as said, Avs are still on the hook from what we know. While he's suspended, the Avs cap isn't touched, but once reinstated, it becomes an issue. If the Avs decide to get rid of him, they could trade him, but he has a No Move Clause making things difficult. If they buy him out, they have to pay his contract at 2/3rds for twice the remaining years left on his contract (4.1mil x 12 years). There are some calculations for how that affects the cap, but I'm too dumb to do that calculation. More info here: https://www.capfriendly.com/buyout-faq
Assuming the Avs are unable to cut him (which seems likely at the moment) [$6.125M/year cap hit until 2030](https://www.capfriendly.com/players/valeri-nichushkin) Plus or minus however long it takes to get approval to re-join the league (6 month minimum, but needs approval from the NHL) He has a full No Move Clause until 2025, so he can't be traded unless he agrees to it. And then he still has a modified No Trade Clause after that, so it'll still be difficult to trade him.
You fucking nailed it. I still think itās a black eye on the organization that they went mum on what was pretty clearly a human trafficking incident. Fucking sickening.
Do we know what he tested positive for?
Did he just fail a drug test or is he behaving like a shitbag because he is on drugs?
What happened mid-season? If something like this happened & they let is slide after last April I'm going to go apeshit. (Wasn't able to follow the regular season this year)
not the team's choice - Val was placed into the player assistance program suddenly on January 15th and didn't return till March 8th. It was framed at the time as if he were voluntarily seeking help, but it now comes out that he had quietly been in the program already- likely a diversion to avoid punishment for the Deatrle incident - so this was a mandatory Level 2 stint in the program for violating the terms of release from Level 1. For what it's worth, the Avs had been 28-12-3 before his suspension but lost 10 of 21 with him out. Considering they were only 2 wins under Dalls with the top seed in the division at season's end, that may have cost them home ice advantage in this series. He also mysteriously missed 4 games starting on March 28th after he got back, and they dropped two of those four. When asked why he wasn't at practice on the 27th, Bednar said only, "Valās got a little something going on, so weāll just see tomorrow,ā Avalanche Head Coach Jared Bednar said. āItās not going to be long-term, but itās something that could possibly keep him out.ā We all assumed he was hurt but now who even knows? The point is, we lost 15 games between January and early April when he wasn't there after starting out really well with and his $6 mil per year, 8 year contract out there as planned. His stupid self-inflicted wounds have cost the team dearly over the past two playoff runs and may handcuff our roster with the salary cap for the better part of a decade now to boot. Even if he comes back and produces, he's going to be a bad presence in thr locker room and it will be very difficult for some of us to find much joy in celebrating the goals he scores for us in the future if he does find his way back.
Can't see how he can come back from this. In essence a third strike. I hope he gets well but the team look shell shocked last night.
Isn't the suspension without pay and no cap hit?
Very immature take. When things like this happen you realise hockey is not the most important thing in the world. Even hockey players are human, regardless of their pay and goal scoring abilityā¦
how is that contrary to my point? That girl being trafficked or at minimum left in an extremely vulnerable medical condition by a dickhead millionaire whose pregnant wife was resting at home and whose employer needed him to be giving his best deserved justice, but the team did everything it could to shield him from consequences solely and exclusively because they wanted him to play hockey for them. I'll repeat this: being an addict does not excuse you from consequences or automatically mean you're a good person with a problem. Sometimes shitheads become addicts also. Val appears to be a shithead and we all screwed up in giving him a pass for ehat he did last year in the name of getting more goal production. Fuck him
My thoughts exactly. He's a Putin-supporting revanchist and the only time I can support him is when he's on the ice. If he's not on the ice, I want nothing to do with him.
I agree 100% fuck Val Nichuskin. He's an adult and everyone wants to treat him like a baby.
Mad? Yes. Sad? Yes. Hate? No. Cmon man, reality
it was an immediate and direct rebuttal to some other dude's "Iove you Val" post but I guess if you don't sort by new you don't see the nuanced. My bad
Nope, thatās on me. Whoosh. My bad. Iāll take the lumps
Shut up who cares
thanks for the thoughtful counterpoint
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
human first, fan second. There's no end-of-life prize for the most blindly loyal fans of a sports team who forgive even the most egregious cheating, goon shit and crimes. You look like at least as much of a loser to me as I apparently do to you, and I think you should grow an identity and moral code beyond unconditional allegiance to every uniformed employee of your local entertainment franchise
Agree with this minus the mid-season thing. I thought that was him finally trying to be responsible and take care of a problem that was harming him and everyone around him, but clearly it didn't last.
no, we now know by the fact that he is in Level 3 violation, that the mid-season absence was forced upon him as a violation for the undisclosed first violation. Girard's may have been voluntary, but Nichushkin's first absence was kept hidden just as his awful behavior in the Seattle hotel was covered up and the second absence, which again came with no public acknowledgement of getting good help or needing to work on himself, was mandated by violation of the terms of the level 1 incident plan.
Yeah, now we know...
ŠŠ°Š»ŠµŃŃŠ¹ ŠæŠ¾Š³Š°Š½Š° Š»ŃŠ“ŠøŠ½Š°. Š”Š»Š°Š²Š° Š£ŠŗŃŠ°ŃŠ½Ń
I'm wondering why Dallas waived him.
Preach.
Hate what you cannot control. Hate the disease. Hate nothing. Love instead.
This was my last straw for him too For every reason you stated
Just appreciate you posting this and reading your words. Thatās all.
Funny that 6 months ago I was laughed out of this sub for mentioning Val was a problem for this team.
Letās hope you never struggle with anything and have millions point a finger at you and spew hate and vitriol towards you. I love val, but Jesus fuck I now hate you!
A little cringe making this all about you. Direct your hate at the drugs and Putin. Valās just a hockey player who has a drug problem and happens to be Russian.
for the record it's a direct rebuttal to the "I love you Val" post. I otherwise wouldn't have bothered
He has a "constantly let down his team, family and friends" addiction...
I can't even begin to imagine what your country is going through, but this ain't it bro. Edit: making the Val debacle all about yourself is as cringe as it fucking gets. Downvote all you want, I'll die on this hill
Dude is Ukrainian, has Russian on his team he roots for, Russian may have banged potentially trafficked women who is Ukrainian, Russian man goes back home and poses with guns while Ukraine is being invaded. Thats just the truth, I donāt think he made this about himself by pointing out how that makes him feel, especially when 99% of us on this sub donāt have that perspective. Donāt push mongo
R.I.P.
Bro you're talking to the same sub of people that say shit like "InComInG aVs FaN" in the stars sub
I love val. Hope he gets through these rough times and comes back clean. Go vaaaaal:)
Sorry to say it, but the Avs had this one coming, Val had shown plenty of times what kind of a man he is and yet the organization decided to keep him in the team. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.