Valery Nichushkin became a client of the program to help players due to alcohol addiction

One of the brightest Russian NHL hockey players this season, Valery Nichushkin, became involved in an extraordinary story. The Colorado Avalanche forward took advantage of the league and its players’ union program to combat alcohol addiction. Because of this, he was out of action indefinitely.

NHL and its players’ union (NHLPA) reported that Colorado forward Valery Nichushkin has become a client of the Player Assistance Program, a program to assist league hockey players. The structures added that he will return to the ice after its administrators give permission. Thus, the reason for Nichushkin’s absence in the club’s last two matches became clear. In them, the club won against the Toronto Maple Leafs and lost to the Montreal Canadiens. Before the meeting with Toronto, Colorado coach Jared Bednar, answering why the Russian striker was not in the application, said that “he is not feeling well.”

The hockey players assistance program was launched in 1996. It provides that any player in the league can turn to specialists hired by the NHL and NHLPA to solve problems of a wide variety of nature, for example, related to health or financial situation, if they interfere with the development of his career. Sometimes the league itself may require a player to take a course as part of the program. But practice shows that most requests occur in cases where alcohol or drug addiction is involved. Because of this, many hockey players have already received assistance within the program. One of the most recent examples is just a representative of Colorado: last November, defenseman Samuel Girard passed through the program.

The famous Russian forward Evgeny Kuznetsov from the Washington Capitals also learned from his own experience about its features. In 2019, he was forced to join the program after Kuznetsov’s doping test tested positive for cocaine at the World Championships.

As for Valery Nichushkin, judging by his official statement to the Colorado press service, he himself decided to take part in it.

Nichushkin emphasized that he “intends to solve his problems and prevent any negative consequences once and for all,” thanking “his wife, family, friends for their understanding and support,” as well as the club and its fans.

He promised that he would “do everything in his power” to “return to the ice and join my teammates soon.” At the same time, North American media resources have no doubt that we are talking about problems with alcohol.

ESPN, talking about the situation with Valery Nichushkin, naturally recalled a very loud and very strange story that happened in the spring of 2023. Before the third match of the opening round of the playoffs against the Seattle Kraken, Nichushkin’s name suddenly disappeared from the application of Colorado, the current Stanley Cup winner at that time. Then, including from police reports, it became clear that the disappearance of the Russian forward was the result of an incident at the hotel where the club’s hockey players were staying before an away meeting. The police were called to her. They found a woman in Nichushkin’s room (allegedly a Ukrainian living in Russia) who was in a state of severe “intoxication,” apparently due to alcohol consumption. She was sent to the hospital. Valery Nichushkin, who has not been formally charged, has still refused to answer questions about that incident. “Colorado”, having lost its forward, eventually lost the series sensationally.

Now Nichushkin is out of action at an extremely inopportune moment for himself.

“Colorado” is fighting for leadership in the regular season (only three points separate it from the Vancouver Canucks at the top of the league table), and 28-year-old Valery Nichushkin himself was in excellent shape. He finally turned into a hockey player, to whom the definition of “star” fits without any stretch. Nichushkin showed a brilliant game in the backfield in the current championship, and his scoring statistics, largely thanks to it, reached the top level – in 40 matches he scored 22 goals and made 20 assists. In terms of the number of points scored in Colorado, only three undisputed frontmen of the team are ahead of Nichushkin – Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Cale Makar. Moreover, the Russian was especially productive in December and those five January meetings in which he managed to speak.

Alexey Dospehov