Confirmed with Link: Nichushkin back in assistance program; suspended a minimum of six months

[JLo217]

Or he goes and f***s up again

Sadly he doesn't seem to care about addiction. He, like many Russians will likely ride out his talent til he can't anymore before he looks for a real fix. In Russia itself men in general don't live long and usually abuse drugs and alcohol at unsustainable rates. Their average death rate is about 10-15 years less than most countries.

 

[the_fan]

For all we know, Val may have always had drug issues, he just didn’t fail drug tests until now

 

[henchman21]

For all we know, Val may have always had drug issues, he just didn’t fail drug tests until now

Until a player is in the player's assistance program, recreational drugs are not at all punished by the league. Teams are simply made aware and all parties move on. Once the clock starts on the PAP, we get into there being consequences.

 

[the_fan]

Until a player is in the player's assistance program, recreational drugs are not at all punished by the league. Teams are simply made aware and all parties move on. Once the clock starts on the PAP, we get into there being consequences.

So you’re saying during a season, a player can do drugs and won’t get punished if he fails a drug test as long as he’s not in PAP? Because I do believe they drug test all the players in the NHL don’t they?

 

[hockeyfish]

So you’re saying during a season, a player can do drugs and won’t get punished if he fails a drug test as long as he’s not in PAP? Because I do believe they drug test all the players in the NHL don’t they?

Correct, as long as the drug isn't listed as a PED.

 

[The Abusement Park]

So you’re saying during a season, a player can do drugs and won’t get punished if he fails a drug test as long as he’s not in PAP? Because I do believe they drug test all the players in the NHL don’t they?

They test them for PEDs. Teams don’t care about drugs till it affects their performance, PR or both.

 

[the_fan]

Correct, as long as the drug isn't listed as a PED.

I believe coke is a PED

 

[the_fan]

Never mind, I just read that drugs like cocaine, marijuana are not punishable in the NHL. I can understand weed, but coke is illegal and should be considered PED.

 

[henchman21]

So you’re saying during a season, a player can do drugs and won’t get punished if he fails a drug test as long as he’s not in PAP? Because I do believe they drug test all the players in the NHL don’t they?

Mostly correct on the first part. There is a testing program that wraps everything together. A player that has a 'dangerously' high level of something may have a notice go out. If there is only a small trace of a substance, no notice is given and it is de-identified.

On the drug test, players outside the program are tested team- wide once at training camp with no notice and once during the season with no notice. There is a random selection no notice that happens too, but not all players get hit with it (Nuke did in the playoffs though). During the offseason only 60 tests for the whole league are given.

There is a separate reasonable cause provision. Where if there is reasonable cause to test, a player will be notified and after 48 hours they can be tested.

I believe coke is a PED

Cocaine is not a PED in the NHL due to it specifically being negotiated out by the NHLPA. It is widely considered a PED in other sporting bodies.

 

[henchman21]

Last season, it seems Nuke didn't get pinched on the drug test in training camp, got caught on Jan 12th from a team wide test leading to that suspension, and then again on May 12th on a randomly selected test. He'll skip the training camp test, but will very likely be subject to at least one no-notice during the season.

Also... this article cracks me up now. 9 days before his next suspension:

Valeri Nichushkin helping Avs since return from player assistance program | TSN

Valeri Nichushkin is lifting the Colorado Avalanche after taking the time to help himself.

www.tsn.ca

“He’s playing great. It’s huge for everybody — for himself and for us,” forward Andrew Cogliano said. “It’s good to see someone that obviously had some struggles and was able to get through it and come out on the other side and play amazing.”

“He’s doing great. He really is,” Bednar said of Nichushkin. “You want guys to be in good mental health and taking care of themselves, and he’s doing that.

“To be fair, he was playing really well when he wasn’t in great mental health. But I just think for long-term sustainability, you want your guys feeling great and at ease away from the rink. You want them to be having fun when they’re coming to the rink and they’ll be more productive. He’s certainly doing that.”

 

[MacKaRant]

What if what Nichushkin is addicted to, is in fact pain killers? And what if the reason he's addicted, is due to the huge amount of them that Avs team doctors overprescribed to him during the 2022 Stanley Cup run, so he could stay on the ice with his foot/ankle injury?

This isn't directed at you, but I've seen over and over in this thread that Nuke played through the 2022 playoffs with a broken foot and this might even be the source of a potential painkiller addiction, etc.

Let's kill this myth now. Nuke's foot injury occurred in Game 5 against the Lightning and the medical staff was able to keep the swelling down enough / give enough drugs for Nuke to be able to play through it for Game 6.

I don't mean to diminish the amount of pain tolerance and dedication it takes to do this, but it's not like he was being pumped full of drugs for multiple weeks to help the Avs win the Cup. It was ONE game he played on a broken foot.

This isn't the Kadri or Burakovsky or Cogliano situation where they came back from broken bones during the playoff run much quicker than in a normal, regular season timeline and contributed in multiple games. It was one game on the broken foot, that's all.

 

[Cake Malar]

This isn't directed at you, but I've seen over and over in this thread that Nuke played through the 2022 playoffs with a broken foot and this might even be the source of a potential painkiller addiction, etc.

Let's kill this myth now. Nuke's foot injury occurred in Game 5 against the Lightning and the medical staff was able to keep the swelling down enough / give enough drugs for Nuke to be able to play through it for Game 6.

I don't mean to diminish the amount of pain tolerance and dedication it takes to do this, but it's not like he was being pumped full of drugs for multiple weeks to help the Avs win the Cup. It was ONE game he played on a broken foot.

This isn't the Kadri or Burakovsky or Cogliano situation where they came back from broken bones during the playoff run much quicker than in a normal, regular season timeline and contributed in multiple games. It was one game on the broken foot, that's all.

I can't imagine the mountain of coke he had to snort to get through Game 6

 

[expatriatedtexan]

Until a player is in the player's assistance program, recreational drugs are not at all punished by the league. Teams are simply made aware and all parties move on. Once the clock starts on the PAP, we get into there being consequences.

I know this is the case. I've known this for quite some time. I still find it hard to believe that a professional organization in the United States is allowed to be so cavalier about what is normally a felony. I can't believe that the US allowed a labor contract to be signed that allows coke detection to go unreported and not acted upon in any single way.

I mean, I'm no saint myself... I'm not trying to play some holier than thou game. I honestly believe some drugs are probably okay for recreational use and some are not. Coke happens to be one that folks can handle a bit longer than others, but I've never seen a person swear that 30 years of doing cocaine was a positive force in their lives. Most people face consequences though when it becomes known they popped positive for coke, but the NHL goes out if its way to specifically bury these incidents. Between this and Gary's refusal to acknowledge head trauma it gets real difficult to defend the NHL as a top 4 sport in the US.

 

[the_fan]

I think we’re at the point where we just need to let Val enjoy his coke and hookers in peace.

 

[RoyIsALegend]

I think we’re at the point where we just need to let Val enjoy his coke and hookers in peace.

He can have a heart attack with his face stuffed between a hooker’s ass cheeks in an underground Moscow club for all I care, so long as he isn’t contracted by the Colorado Avalanche.

 

[dahrougem2]

He can have a heart attack with his face stuffed between a hooker’s ass cheeks in an underground Moscow club for all I care, so long as he isn’t contracted by the Colorado Avalanche.

And I hope she lets one rip

 

[the_fan]

He can have a heart attack with his face stuffed between a hooker’s ass cheeks in an underground Moscow club for all I care, so long as he isn’t contracted by the Colorado Avalanche.

And I hope she lets one rip

Brutal

 

[willy702]

You guys are something else. Let's find all the wild assumptions in here

1. Val is doing coke.
2. Val is a drug addict.
3. Val got a hooker in Seattle
4. The Avs knowingly extended a drug addict.
5. The Avs were certain to win 1 or 2 more Cups if Val was around.
6. The rest of the Avs players want Val out.
7. The Avs are working hard to dump Val for a bag of pucks.

That's just the beginning of the list. Now how much of any of this is proven???

 

[expatriatedtexan]

You guys are something else. Let's find all the wild assumptions in here

1. Val is doing coke.
2. Val is a drug addict.
3. Val got a hooker in Seattle
4. The Avs knowingly extended a drug addict.
5. The Avs were certain to win 1 or 2 more Cups if Val was around.
6. The rest of the Avs players want Val out.
7. The Avs are working hard to dump Val for a bag of pucks.

That's just the beginning of the list. Now how much of any of this is proven???

[edit, please delete. This was a response more about the poster's mental competence than the actual post.]

 

[the_fan]

You guys are something else. Let's find all the wild assumptions in here

1. Val is doing coke.
2. Val is a drug addict.
3. Val got a hooker in Seattle
4. The Avs knowingly extended a drug addict.
5. The Avs were certain to win 1 or 2 more Cups if Val was around.
6. The rest of the Avs players want Val out.
7. The Avs are working hard to dump Val for a bag of pucks.

That's just the beginning of the list. Now how much of any of this is proven???

I personally believe that’s all bull shit. I really think Val is being set up by Makar

 

[henchman21]

He can have a heart attack with his face stuffed between a hooker’s ass cheeks in an underground Moscow club for all I care, so long as he isn’t contracted by the Colorado Avalanche.

There’s a scene in The Boys that’s applicable here.

 

[katfude]

You guys are something else. Let's find all the wild assumptions in here

1. Val is doing coke.
2. Val is a drug addict.
3. Val got a hooker in Seattle
4. The Avs knowingly extended a drug addict.
5. The Avs were certain to win 1 or 2 more Cups if Val was around.
6. The rest of the Avs players want Val out.
7. The Avs are working hard to dump Val for a bag of pucks.

That's just the beginning of the list. Now how much of any of this is proven???

Innocent until proven guilty is for the government. You have plenty of information to draw all of those conclusions.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

You guys are something else. Let's find all the wild assumptions in here

1. Val is doing coke.
2. Val is a drug addict.
3. Val got a hooker in Seattle
4. The Avs knowingly extended a drug addict.
5. The Avs were certain to win 1 or 2 more Cups if Val was around.
6. The rest of the Avs players want Val out.
7. The Avs are working hard to dump Val for a bag of pucks.

That's just the beginning of the list. Now how much of any of this is proven???

Quite frankly, most of it is proven

 

[expatriatedtexan]

There’s a scene in The Boys that’s applicable here.

I really wanted to get into that series. I love the idea... but actually watching asshole heroes with this many problems turned me off. I loved Watchmen though. Weird, I admit. I'm not even sure myself why I feel so differently about them. I also really loved Will Smith's take on a flawed hero in John Hancock, but that turned out to be more of a tragedy love story.

 

[henchman21]

I really wanted to get into that series. I love the idea... but actually watching asshole heroes with this many problems turned me off. I loved Watchmen though. Weird, I admit. I'm not even sure myself why I feel so differently about them. I also really loved Will Smith's take on a flawed hero in John Hancock, but that turned out to be more of a tragedy love story.

The Boys is rather meh to me. It has moments, but times of it trying way too hard. The first season is especially guilty of it. Gets better for 2 and 3 (haven’t seen 4 yet). I’d never say it is a must watch, but fun if you can get past the first season.

The Watchman is something that I feel is really begging for a live action piece that does it justice. The movie has moments, but too Zack Snyder. The series is more of a universe piece than the Watchman. One day I hope someone can do it justice. I hope the same for Blood Meridian too, but my hopes aren’t real high.