Denver Post: Nichushkin involved in incident that prompted police/medical response

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Hanji

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Oct 14, 2009
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Yep. This screams drug abuse.

By saying 'hope' in his statement, MacFarland is insinuating the ball in Nichshkin's court, as if its something within his control, while simultaneously making it obvious the Avs would love him back.
 
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henchman21

Mr. Meeseeks
Feb 24, 2012
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Are we sure there's no confidentiality agreement in NHL players contracts? Like.... if Nuke entered a clinic outside of the players assistance program, what happens then?
This is all spelled out in the CBA and standard player contracts, so yeah we have a pretty good idea what the rights are. Avs can release the information at any time they want, even if he doesn't go through the SABH program as that would require a waiver from the team.

One minor thing to add to this. If Nuke goes through the SABH, the NHLPA and NHL craft the initial release and the team forgoes the initial statement. Which signals to me, he hasn't entered the program yet.
 
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lionsDen

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Jan 26, 2022
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I don't personally care about the details of what happened in the room or the issues that Nuke has on a personal level. On Nuke's personal side, I just hope he gets help. I care about the impact on the team that happened this year and moving forward. I personally don't think Nuke was the difference in winning and losing the playoff series, but his absence certainly had an impact. If he's got addiction issues, then he needs to get help and hopefully he can get on the other side clean. If those addiction issues stemmed from the medical staff giving opioids out like candy or botched medical treatment... that needs to be addressed. If he has sexual assault or violence issues (and FTR zero indication that is the case here), I'd prefer him not on the team as it would be a matter of time before an incident happened. If he has addiction issues and he refuses to get help at the team's detriment... I'd also prefer him not on the team. It simply impacts a core player on the team to a pretty high degree, which impacts the team to a pretty high degree. That is the top concern for me as a fan. What impact does this have on the Avs? What issues did the Avs cause? What are they doing about it?

We had pages and pages of debate on Vrana and many here stated they wouldn't want nor would the Avs want a player with those issues. Turns out the Avs probably have a player with those issues. Said player is about to enter the 2nd year of an 8 year deal.

For those saying they want to keep it as quiet as possible and we shouldn't know any details... that's the same thought process that Chicago took with the Beech situation. We don't know the depth and gravity of this... odds are it doesn't hit that level, but there is evidence this isn't the cleanest of situations.
I can get with most of that until the Chicago comparison. Way different levels
 

Foppa2118

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Oct 3, 2003
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Sounds like the ball's in Val's court. Just let it go and get to work on yourself Val. We're gonna need you next year without Landy.

What a redemption story this could be. Val works out his issues over the summer. CMac builds a good roster with Landy's LTIR money. Val comes back a new man and has a 40 goal season. Landy rehabs his tail off and comes back for the playoffs. Avs win the Cup with another powerhouse roster.

All starts with you Val. Lets get to work!
 

cccoltsicehockey

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May 1, 2014
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The thing that blows me away most is that the night before, he finally looked like himself again. To me, anyway.
I thought the same thing. Which definitely makes the timing extra weird. I also have seen a friend who I later learned had a problem and would see him have very normal days at times throughout it all.
 
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Pokecheque

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Sounds like the ball's in Val's court. Just let it go and get to work on yourself Val. We're gonna need you next year without Landy.

What a redemption story this could be. Val works out his issues over the summer. CMac builds a good roster with Landy's LTIR money. Val comes back a new man and has a 40 goal season. Landy rehabs his tail off and comes back for the playoffs. Avs win the Cup with another powerhouse roster.

All starts with you Val. Lets get to work!

We'll see. Sadly there's been questions about his character and work ethic that have dogged him throughout his career. And at least some of them were justified.
 

Bender

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Sep 25, 2002
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Yeah, but the point of my post was that the team appears to be supporting him. And until there is more known, I don't see the point in jumping to worse case scenarios. That's nothing close to rainbows and unicorns.
Wait... Are you saying that Nuke isn't "necessarily" a complete and total junkie??? What evidence do you have that he's NOT??? :sarcasm:

But how could that be? Wait, it's true that once in my younger days someone noticed a 6-pack of beer in my car and didn't necessarily drive me straight to the Betty Ford clinic.
 

niwotsblessing

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May 1, 2010
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Wait... Are you saying that Nuke isn't "necessarily" a complete and total junkie??? What evidence do you have that he's NOT??? :sarcasm:

But how could that be? Wait, it's true that once in my younger days someone noticed a 6-pack of beer in my car and didn't necessarily drive me straight to the Betty Ford clinic.
Dude, your new avatar is terrifying.
 

Metallo

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Feb 14, 2010
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The whole absence of directly implicating Nuke in the room or him calling in the doctor and just being an unnamed 3rd party is a very classic way of fixing a scene... and taking the woman from the room to the lobby is another sign of that (keeps eyes away from the room). Avs did everything they could to keep Nuke from being in a legal situation going as far as shipping him away. So when they say it isn't a legal situation, they are 100% correct. They took steps to ensure it wasn't a legal situation.

Avs clearly don't want to make a statement on this and they will hold quiet until their feet are in the fire. The journalists around the team should be doing the work to cover this story.
As it ever happened? :laugh:
 
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BrickNHL

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Feb 25, 2019
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He will be our Savior. Anyone proudly sporting that kind of hairdoo at age 13-14 must be unstoppable.

Gotta believe one of these mid-round picks is gonna turn out at some point, right?

Has it ever happened?
 

Metallo

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Why? Are you a fan of this team? What good is it going to do the Avs if they get pressured on this by anyone?

The way I personally look at it is this :

1) I don't give a crap about some random hooker. I think it's weird that you'd side with HER not knowing any of the actual details rather than the team you cheer for. What if she was partying with Val and took some weird combo of drugs+alcohol that he may not have even known about and she had a bad reaction and almost died - so he called the team doctor and they got him the hell out of there. The team doctor dealt with the mess while they took him away to deal with the subsequent marital issues that were undoubtedly forthcoming. Now that may seem like a scene from Pulp Fiction but it's not unreasonable... to me, that's the gist of the story with the info I've read and if that's the case, what would you like the Avs to add to that?

Under that scenario, it is a personal matter. Nobody is pressing charges. There is no legal implication. If Nuke was unfaithful or not and he'll deal with his wife for that part of it but I'm not sure it's any of our business. It doesn't mean he's an addict, it doesn't mean he needs to go to rehab.

Now if this was something bigger than that (sex trafficking) well that's a different story altogether.

2) What I care about is getting the player 'right' so that he can be a part of this team going forward IF possible.

3) I also don't care that the Avs are proceeding with caution with this whole thing. Let's face it, this isn't the GM or the President clumsily not knowing what to do - there is a savvy legal team advising them on how to proceed. I'm 100% fine with how they've done things because IF this situation takes some sort of bad turn (with new details) AND they need to be able to VOID his contract I want them to be able to do that. Personally, I think the situation is what I highlighted above and there is nothing to add. Nuke was partying with a hooker - she almost ODed - they got her the medical care needed - and took Nuke out of that situation.

Not having Nuke back as part of the team for the next 7 years AND having that contract count against the cap is the worst possible scenario and I'm hoping that the Avs have proceeded in the manner that will allow him back on the team OR have the possibility to void the contract and gain back the cap space. That's all I care about.
Why even remove Nuke from the team if it's that benign? Removing him caused a stir.
 

The Abusement Park

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Wait... Are you saying that Nuke isn't "necessarily" a complete and total junkie??? What evidence do you have that he's NOT??? :sarcasm:

But how could that be? Wait, it's true that once in my younger days someone noticed a 6-pack of beer in my car and didn't necessarily drive me straight to the Betty Ford clinic.
I mean they wouldn't just remove him from the city itself if it was a total non issue.
 
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Bender

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I mean they wouldn't just remove him from the city itself if it was a total non issue.
I dunno, to me I think it IS possible that Nuke f***ed up by having a hooker almost OD in his room without him necessarily having a drug problem that requires rehab.

To be clear - I'm not trying to say that this is a 'nothing story' or a 'non-issue'... I'm more referring to people on here already deciding that Nuke is a big-time drug abuser because of what happened and we just don't know that to be the case - for now at least.

Why even remove Nuke from the team if it's that benign? Removing him caused a stir.

I think it was a chain of events sort of thing, that led to the team making the decision to take Nuke out of that situation completely to avoid a potential legal issue and intense media scrutiny. When they made the decision to get him the hell out of there, they probably didn't know if the woman was going to be ok or not.

Could you imagine him staying with the team if they hadn't gotten him out of there ?

Could you imagine the line of questioning if they brought him back to the team a few days later ?

The Avs took the decision to get him out of there to leave the situation as murky as possible and to give them the chance to sweep this under the carpet with the least amount of noise. (and we came pretty close to still winning that series.... incredible under the circumstances).
 
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