DENVER—Colorado Avalanche forward Valeri Nichushkin on Monday night was suspended for at least six months without pay and placed in stage 3 of the league’s player-assistance program.
The National Hockey League and NHL Players’ Association announced the news about an hour before the start of Game 4 of Colorado’s second-round Stanley Cup playoff series against the Dallas Stars. It’s the second time this season that Nichushkin has been in the program. Stage 3 means Nichushkin violated terms of the program.
The 29-year-old Russian will miss the rest of the postseason and the first month of next season at a minimum.
He leads the Avalanche with nine playoff goals this season.
Nichushkin was gone for nearly two months earlier this season to receive care from the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program for issues that were not disclosed. This was on the heels of missing the final five games of a playoff loss to Seattle last season for what the Avalanche explained only as personal reasons.
Nichushkin wasn’t available to the team from Jan. 13 to March 7 after entering the program. He became the second Colorado player to enter the program during the regular season, following defenseman Samuel Girard, who said in November that anxiety and depression led to alcohol abuse. Girard returned to action in mid-December.
In a first-round playoff series last spring against Seattle, Nichushkin abruptly left the team with only the explanation that it was for personal reasons. His absence started after officers responded to a crisis call at the Four Seasons Hotel in Seattle before Game 3. A 28-year-old woman was in an ambulance when officers arrived, and medics were told to speak with an Avalanche team physician to gather more details.
The report, obtained at the time from the Seattle Police Department by The Associated Press, said the Avalanche physician told officers that team employees found the woman when they were checking on Nichushkin. The physician told officers the woman appeared to be heavily intoxicated, too intoxicated to have left the hotel “in a ride share or cab service,” and requested EMS assistance.
Before the season, Nichushkin dodged questions about the situation, saying only, “I know you guys want to find something there, but it’s nothing really interesting. I think we should close it.”
