Valeri Nichushkin says Colorado Avalanche did not handle his situation well

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TJ Tucker
July 7, 2024 (4:16 PM)

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In a new interview, Valeri Nichushkin attempted to explain the woman in his hotel incident, while also saying he doesn't believe his situation was handled properly

Valeri NIchushkin's future in the NHL is still very much up in the air after he entered the NHL/NHLPA's Player Assistance program for the second time last season and was suspended until mid-November of 2024. Despite that Nichushkin is speaking out in his home country about what happened to him over the past couple of years and how it could have been handled differently by the Colorado Avalanche.

First off, Nichushkin insists the drunk woman found in his hotel room in Seattle during the 2022-23 playoffs had nothing to do with him.

"It turned out that I had a plane in the morning, I had already left town [from Seattle]. And this situation with the girl - she really has nothing to do with me."

Nichushkin said he was leaving Seattle to get injections in his shoulder which likely would have kept him out of the rest of the series against the Seattle Kraken. He said he would have come back for the next round, but the Avs were eliminated. Nichushkin said he wanted to tell his side of the story, but Colorado said no.

"In the end, it all got blown out of proportion. And, again, because of my emotional state, I decided to abstract. The club also told me: 'Don't pay attention to it, let's not say anything, it will only be in the news once again'. Probably the wrong decision. We should have told everything at once, put everything in place. Then people wouldn't have wondered. It would have been even easier for me. Now, thank God, we have the opportunity to tell everything when everything has settled down, calmed down."

There is no guarantee that Nichushkin will still be a member of the Colorado Avalanche when his current suspension is up in November. The team seems to have no plans to trade him, but could terminate his contract if it's decided he is simply too much of a liability.