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

[Bender]

This myth that the Avs can't win without Nuke is a joke.

Any team that loses a very good top-6 forward would be in trouble but it's especially tough when you have no one viable to try and replace him and have to rely on a 39 year old like Parise.

If they had been even only half-decent at drafting then maybe you'd have 1 or 2 guys -not quite ready but getting there- in the AHL to lean on...not frikkin Joel kiviranta!

There are 2 of these guys currently probably available -> Nick Robertson and Jonatan Berggren. Not perfect players by any means but guys who can probably help production-wise if you have some key injuries - not frikkin' Foudy and not Olausson.

 

[henchman21]

Yeah the primary issue of not being able to 'survive' losing Nuke is the lack of quality depth... which stems from the really poor drafting. The Avs have to patch that up with trades and signings, which just takes from different areas.

I do agree that the Avs are a good bit, if not significantly, worse without Nuke in the lineup. The problem with the whole thing is Nuke is taking himself off the ice with his addiction.

 

[AllAboutAvs]

This myth that the Avs can't win without Nuke is a joke.

Any team that loses a very good top-6 forward would be in trouble but it's especially tough when you have no one viable to try and replace him and have to rely on a 39 year old like Parise.

If they had been even only half-decent at drafting then maybe you'd have 1 or 2 guys -not quite ready but getting there- in the AHL to lean on...not frikkin Joel kiviranta!

There are 2 of these guys currently probably available -> Nick Robertson and Jonatan Berggren. Not perfect players by any means but guys who can probably help production-wise if you have some key injuries - not frikkin' Foudy and not Olausson.

I have said my 2 cents on this in the past. It is not that they can't win without Nuke but more that they can't win without both Nuke AND Landy out of the lineup at the same time. They need at least one of those two in the lineup. Without both of them the top-6 become weak defensively, weak in winning battles in the corner, weak in cycling the puck and especially weak in front of the net in both areas of screening the goalie on shots and tipping shots. They don't have anybody in the system that can bring those skills/qualities to fill in. Obviously it is very hard to have one player in the system/lower lines that can fill all those gaps in the top-6. The player doesn't need to fill all the gaps but you need somebody to fill most of them. The Avs don't have that anywhere in their system currently.

 

[dahrougem2]

Look at the record with vs without him. He is needed.

Still, though. F*** Val Nichushkin.