Valeri Nichushkin Heads To The Mile High City, Signs With The Colorado Avalanche

By Jordan Long

The Colorado Avalanche are still waiting to re-sign forward Mikko Rantanen. The Avalanche hope they added to their offense by agreeing to a contract with forward Valeri Nichushkin to a 1-year deal.  It is team friendly valued at $850,000 this season.

Nichushkin has 4 years of NHL experience all with the Dallas Stars.  The Stars selected him in the 1^stround in the 2013 NHL Draft.  They saw Nichushkin at the top of his game in his rookie year in 2014.  That season he scored 14 goals and added 20 assists for a total of 34 points.

The Stars were expecting his game to grow but it didn’t. In 2015 he missed all but 8 games recording 1 assist.  Nichushkin struggled with a hip injury opting to have surgery on it in November.  He was out the rest of the year.  In 2016 a fully healthy Nichushkin played in 79 games for the Stars.  He was back to scoring goals and feeding his teammates for them to score.  He ended up with 9 goals and 20 assists for a total of 29 points.

                Last season was a disappointment.  Nichushkin skated in 57 games.  He wasn’t able to score a goal but totaled 10 assists.  The Stars saw enough and decided to buy out the rest of his contract.  It was worth $450,000 the next two years.

                According to NHL.com, General Manager Joe Sakic said, “Valeri is a big, young winger who adds depth to our roster and brings competition to our training camp. He brings NHL experience to our team and we are excited to have him with our organization.”

The Avalanche are giving Nichushkin a chance to keep playing at the NHL level. He should be on the 3^rd or 4^th line.  If he skates like he did in his rookie year, it will help the Avalanche’s secondary scoring, an area where they struggled during the regular season last year. 

This is a low risk, high reward move for Colorado.  They didn’t give Nichushkin a huge deal and it could payoff with him lighting the lamp.  If Nichushkin struggles, the Avalanche could decide to release him during the year or let him test free agency at the end of the season.  It is a win for both sides. �3