Avalanche’s Valeri Nichushkin gives back to his former Russian team

The Denver Gazette

27 August 2023

Avalanche’s Valeri Nichushkin gives back to his former Russian team

Every week during the offseason, Denver Gazette beat writer Kyle Fredrickson will take you around the NHL and inside the Avalanche:

WHAT THEY SAID

“It was a lot of long discussions with my family, my agent, people closest to me and just kind of going through my process. In conclusion, we found the right balance at four years. It will put me with the team for 12 years (total) by the end of that contract. Like I’ve expressed before, I love playing in Toronto and I love my teammates. … It was the right balance for everybody involved.”

—Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews after signing a four-year, $53-million contract extension in Toronto

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WHAT I’M THINKING

—Nathan MacKinnon’s shelf life as the NHL’s highest-paid player will be short. The Avs star signed an 8-year extension that kicks in this season with a $12.6-million average annual value. But Matthews will eclipse MacKinnon in 2024-25 when his new deal ($13.25M AAV) hits the books in Toronto. Matthews deserves it as a past Hart Trophy winner still in his prime at 25 years old.

—MacKinnon’s contract is far more team-friendly. He’s locked in through the 2030-31 season when the NHL salary cap is expected to far exceed the current team limit ($83.5M). Matthews will be an unrestricted free agent in 2028 with the chance for an even bigger payday. But MacKinnon prioritized term. He wanted eight years.

—MacKinnon, last September, said: “I always admired players who were with one franchise. I think that’s pretty cool.” So does general manager Chris MacFarland. MacKinnon will spend the remainder of his prime chasing a Stanley Cup in Colorado. He’ll be 36 when his current deal expires. MacKinnon seems less concerned with being the league’s highest-paid player.

—Let’s take a moment to recognize the NHL’s failure to keep up financially with their professional sports counterparts. Matthews’ league-leading $13.2M annual salary would rank No. 88 in the NFL, No. 103 in the MLB and No. 113 in the NBA (according to NHL agent Allan Walsh). Remind me again why Gary Bettman has kept his job as league commissioner since 1993? Hockey is woefully behind.

The highest paid player in the NHL today is comparatively the-• 113th highest-paid player in the NBA• 103rd highest-paid player in the MLB• 88th highest-paid player in the NFL
— Allan Walsh�� (@walsha) August 24, 2023

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WHAT I’M READING

—The Athletic’s Corey Pronman ranked all 32 NHL teams according to their “pipeline” of players 22-years-old or younger. Colorado checks in at No. 25 on the list thanks to defenseman Bo Byram and several promising AHL prospects.

—Vancouver center Elias Pettersson tells NHL.com that contract talks with the Canucks are “on hold” until after this upcoming season. Pettersson is eligible for an extension and will be a restricted free agent in 2024-25. He tallied 102 points last season.

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WHAT’S HAPPENING

—The Avalanche have signed veteran forward Peter Holland to a professional tryout contract, per capfriendly.com. Holland, 32, last played in 2017-18 after a seven-year NHL career between four different teams (Ducks, Maple Leafs, Coyotes and Rangers). He recorded 85 points over 266 game appearances.

—The ‘no-duh’ news of the week is NHL Network listing Cale Makar as the No. 1 defenseman in their annual league positional rankings. He’s the third Avalanche player to be mentioned, joining Nathan MacKinnon (No. 3 center) and Mikko Rantanen (No. 4 winger).

—NHL Network analyst Mike Kelly recently made his case that Avs defenseman Devon Toews should be considered a top-three defenseman in the entire league. Kelly said: “A lot of people watching right now are gonna say: ‘What? Are you crazy?’ … He’s a guy that doesn’t get enough recognition.”

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NHL INSIDER

Val Nichushkin visited Traktor Hockey Academy in his hometown of Chelyabinsk and donated ~3 million rubles (~$30.000) pic.twitter.com/Lby4MyC1OR
— KHL (@khl_eng) August 22, 2023

Valeri Nichushkin emerged from summer obscurity with a return to his hockey roots.

The Colorado Avalanche winger grew up in Russia and played his first KHL season for his local team, Chelyabinsk Traktor in 2012-13. Last week, Nichushkin returned home to make a sizable donation to the team’s youth academy program.

He wrote a check for 3,143,413 rubles, per Traktor’s website, which currently amounts to more than $33,000. The KHL team posted a YouTube video of Nichushkin skating with kids during development camp and signing autographs.

Nichushkin is quoted on their website, translated into English, saying: “We gave the guys a couple of tips at the master class, and we got good emotions ourselves. I immediately remember the club school in Chelyabinsk — a pleasant time, great impressions. … Now I talked with the children and plunged into the process. I felt as if I myself had just graduated from hockey school.”

Avalanche training camp starts Sept. 21 with Nichushkin expected to rejoin the team. Questions still linger over his abrupt departure in the playoffs “personal reasons” stemming from an incident at the team hotel in Seattle. Nichushkin was never charged with a crime and faced no team or NHL discipline.

Nichushkin is under contract with the Avs through the 2029-30 season with a $6.125-million average annual value.

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