Regarding an event that occurred last spring that caused him to leave the Colorado Avalanche midway through their first-round series against the Seattle Kraken, Valeri Nichushkin has spoken out.
Nichushkin was absent from Game 3 of the series after participating in the Avalanche’s first two games; Avs coach Jared Bednar explained his absence as a maintenance day. Colorado later disclosed that Nichushkin had departed the team for “personal reasons.”Soon after, Peter Baugh of The Athletic revealed that an Avalanche team physician discovered a severely drunk woman in Valeri Nichushkin’s hotel room before Game 3 and decided to call 911 since the woman was too drunk to leave the hotel by taxi or other means.
The report named Nichushkin by name. The woman, who was born in Ukraine but was originally from Russia, reportedly informed a Seattle Police officer that “some guy took her passport and that he was a bad person” after getting into the ambulance.Nichushkin claimed he left the team for family reasons and that Colorado and he both made the decision to leave when questioned about the reasons behind his departure on Monday. He refused to elaborate further.
Nichushkin also declined to address directly questions concerning the report regarding his contact with this woman.
Nichushkin uttered, “Let’s close it, I told you.” “I’d prefer not to discuss it.”
Nichushkin missed the rest of the Kraken series, which the Avalanche lost, and is now in the second season of an eight-year, $49 million contract. Nichushkin apparently took a plane from Seattle, according to The Athletic, though it’s unclear exactly where he went.
Nichushkin stated, “I would have probably played if we had advanced to the next round.”
