Valeri Nichushkin placed in NHLPA assistance program stage 3 - suspended without pay for min. 6 months

[Hockeyfan2390]

Clearly a popular guy at this point.



Hope they find a way to terminate his contract this offseason, pay out Nuke, and eat whatever cap hit they have to. Basically just Mike Richards the guy.

Translation: Good riddance

 

[LaCarriere]

Clearly a popular guy at this point.



Hope they find a way to terminate his contract this offseason, pay out Nuke, and eat whatever cap hit they have to. Basically just Mike Richards the guy.

A lot more money remaining on nukes contract than Richard's. They can buy him out, but it would be around 1.7M for the next 12 years.

I dont see them being able to terminate his contract unless it comes out he did something illegal. He will probably finish his 6 months in the program and get reinstated, leaving the Avs in a crappy situation. Do they package him with assets and try to trade him and his problems away? Do they buy him out? Do they hope he's figured out his problems? That's the only 3 scenarios I see happening.

I personally think his problems may be alcohol related, given what happened last year in the playoffs, but who knows. I think if it was something illegal like coke, oxys or even weed we would have heard about possession charges by now.

If it is alcohol related, terminating his contract outright might be a lot harder that in the Richard's situation, seeing as how alcohol is legal. Richards was caught at the border with oxys without a prescription... and he even eventually got a settlement.

 

[Phion Keneuf]

So the guy like a couple bumps here and there. It’s not a performance enhancing drug.

You remove every player in the NHL who occasionally does some bumps and you’ll struggle to ice a full lineup.

 

[lidstromiscool]

Clearly a popular guy at this point.



Hope they find a way to terminate his contract this offseason, pay out Nuke, and eat whatever cap hit they have to. Basically just Mike Richards the guy.

Jack Johnson should probably just keep his mouth shut and focus on not being a pylon

 

[Shark Finn]

Guy is done with the Avs, perhaps the whole NHL too.

 

[Squiffy]

Whats the relevant section of the CBA here for players in substance abuse program? Can't seem to find it.

 

[ponder]

Did we ever find out what really happened last playoffs, where he was also suspended mid-playoffs with that whole crazy “heavily intoxicated human-trafficked woman in his hotel room” situation? Ugly details of hotel room incident involving Valeri Nichushkin

Seems like that story just sorta disappeared without real details ever coming out?

 

[jetsforever]

Very strange timing with him dominating in goal scoring but clearly he has some issues

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

A lot more money remaining on nukes contract than Richard's. They can buy him out, but it would be around 1.7M for the next 12 years.

I dont see them being able to terminate his contract unless it comes out he did something illegal. He will probably finish his 6 months in the program and get reinstated, leaving the Avs in a crappy situation. Do they package him with assets and try to trade him and his problems away? Do they buy him out? Do they hope he's figured out his problems? That's the only 3 scenarios I see happening.

I personally think his problems may be alcohol related, given what happened last year in the playoffs, but who knows. I think if it was something illegal like coke, oxys or even weed we would have heard about possession charges by now.

If it is alcohol related, terminating his contract outright might be a lot harder that in the Richard's situation, seeing as how alcohol is legal. Richards was caught at the border with oxys without a prescription... and he even eventually got a settlement.

Honestly at this point I dont think he's capable of this. Dude just came out of rehab at the end of February... Didn't even last 3 months.

I actually think he might have played his last game in the NHL period. He'll relapse over the next 6 months, get moved into "Stage 4" of the NHLPA program and never get reinstated into the league again.

Playing in the KHL by September.


Which really sucks because the dude was an absolutely sensational player, but even beyond hockey he has a young family that are likely going to be suffering the most from all of this.

 

[Mattb124]

A lot more money remaining on nukes contract than Richard's. They can buy him out, but it would be around 1.7M for the next 12 years.

I dont see them being able to terminate his contract unless it comes out he did something illegal. He will probably finish his 6 months in the program and get reinstated, leaving the Avs in a crappy situation. Do they package him with assets and try to trade him and his problems away? Do they buy him out? Do they hope he's figured out his problems? That's the only 3 scenarios I see happening.

I personally think his problems may be alcohol related, given what happened last year in the playoffs, but who knows. I think if it was something illegal like coke, oxys or even weed we would have heard about possession charges by now.

If it is alcohol related, terminating his contract outright might be a lot harder that in the Richard's situation, seeing as how alcohol is legal. Richards was caught at the border with oxys without a prescription... and he even eventually got a settlement.

Does the NHL drug test for alcohol?

 

[Zine]

Did we ever find out what really happened last playoffs, where he was also suspended mid-playoffs with that whole crazy “heavily intoxicated human-trafficked woman in his hotel room” situation? Ugly details of hotel room incident involving Valeri Nichushkin

Seems like that story just sorta disappeared without real details ever coming out?

The Avalanche quelled a lot of the info on Nichushkin’s part.
The Seattle police apparently investigated the woman and found no illegality.

I dont think we’ll ever know.

 

[Zine]

Does the NHL drug test for alcohol?

I assume they could if, per the assistance program, sobriety is a requirement of reinstatement.

 

[Raistlin]

This sucks for the Avs. Clearly a guy that is struggling with addiction. Hopefully he can get things on track so this is a one time occurance.

This is the second playoffs where he derailed his teammates' chance to win. That is incredibly selfish to everyone around him.

A one time occurence is being caught in say, Singapore with 1 kg of marijuana. They give you the noose and hang you at dawn for that in 2024.

Capital punishment in Singapore - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Terry Yake]

Did we ever find out what really happened last playoffs, where he was also suspended mid-playoffs with that whole crazy “heavily intoxicated human-trafficked woman in his hotel room” situation? Ugly details of hotel room incident involving Valeri Nichushkin

Seems like that story just sorta disappeared without real details ever coming out?

league swept it under the rug pretty quickly and sent nichushkin back to russia for the offseason

 

[DearDiary]

This sucks for the Avs. Clearly a guy that is struggling with addiction. Hopefully he can get things on track so this is a one time occurance.

He's currently on stage 3... after failing drug tests last year. Also getting found in a hotel room with a trafficked woman. This is no one time occurrence

 

[chaser17]

I predict the Avs will terminate him then negotiate some sort of settlement similar to Mike Richards and Evander Kane. Likely played his last game with the avs regardless.

 

[robertmac43]

He's currently on stage 3... after failing drug tests last year. Also getting found in a hotel room with a trafficked woman. This is no one time occurrence

The stage 3 suspension is a first time occurrence for him. Hopefully when all is said and done it sets him on the right path. Currently he is obviously too big of a wild card to put any trust into. That's often the case for those who struggle with addiction.

A one time occurence is being caught in say, Singapore with 1 kg of marijuana. They give you the noose and hang you at dawn for that in 2024.

Lol are you saying this is the kind of stance we should be taking?

 

[CanadienShark]

I'm surprised weed isn't legal in Montreal the way that province loves its tax money.

It is legal across Canada.

 

[TheBeard]

Jack Johnson should probably just keep his mouth shut and focus on not being a pylon

Why? At least he’s competing.

 

[Buck Naked]

Jack Johnson should probably just keep his mouth shut and focus on not being a pylon

Yikes.

70 GF% (7-3) 5v5. Maybe they should play him more.

 

[TheOne]

Fine, then I can ask: Why is it required of workers to not use recreative drugs if it doesn't affect their work?

Cause the person cutting the checks says so. If you don't want to accept the terms and conditions of your employment because you disagree with them or find them arbitrarily restrictive, then feel free to not accept the employment. Simple as.

 

[ViD]

Whatever he was taking definitely works as he’s tied for #1 in goals this post season

 

[kingsholygrail]

I predict the Avs will terminate him then negotiate some sort of settlement similar to Mike Richards and Evander Kane. Likely played his last game with the avs regardless.

Richards was a different situation. He got caught with a controlled substance at the Canadian border and the Kings terminated his contract. He contested it and the resulting arbitration was he'd get bought out at a significantly reduced rate and cap hit. Basically a million a year for 12 years or whatever it was.

He was never in the player assistance program.

 

[Ulysses31]

got to be coke

wonder what is prohibited (cannabis etc)

 

[britdevil]

Fine, then I can ask: Why is it required of workers to not use recreative drugs if it doesn't affect their work?

It's all fine and dandy until one day, those holes in the preventative barriers line-up and it leads to an incident.

This is such a shitty attitude towards drugs/alcohol. "It won't happen to me" said the guy who drank three pints and then drove home.

I'm amazed that a teacher, such as yourself, isn't able to think critically on this.

Nuke signed a contract, that 100% would have had some kind of wellness policy included. He violated that, again.

End of story.