If trust is a two-way street, Valeri Nichushkin needs to stop kicking Stanley Cups to the curb.
“We trust him. And that’s the management, the coaches — everybody trusts him,” Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson told me this week before Colorado’s Stanley Cup Playoffs opener at Dallas on Saturday.
“If his teammates can trust him, I think everyone else has to, too.”
Easier said than done. For three straight playoffs, the Avs have gone as far as the Chu Chu Train could take them. It’s been a bumpy ride.
Oh, things started well enough. In 2022, it was a two-month Uber on a magic carpet, right back into Lord Stanley’s loving arms.
In 2023, it went AWOL in Seattle and petered out after seven games. Last spring, the Avs absolutely lapped Winnipeg, lost Val to a suspension, and went straight back into the ditch, wheels spinning at the sky.
Since 2021, the Avs are 13-3 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs when Nichushkin scores. They’re 28-12 when Big Val suits up. They’re 3-5 when he doesn’t.
One guy shouldn’t have that much power, that much sway, that much juice with this much at stake.
This guy does. When Val’s right, the Avs are the NHL’s worst nightmare. When Val vanishes from the postseason, inevitably, so do they.
And Lordy, they know it.
“I don’t think we win (the title) without him in 2022,” Johnson reflected. “We’re a different team when he’s in the lineup. You’ve seen that when he’s been out for us in the past (during the playoffs), unfortunately. I think he’s in a good place right now.”
Since returning from a lower-body injury on Feb. 26, the Russian winger closed out the regular season with 17 points over his last 22 games (10 goals, seven assists). His 17.8% shooting rate during ’24-25 was a new career high.
According to MoneyPuck.com’s tracking, the Chu Chu Train’s already logged 103 minutes next to new second-line center Brock Nelson, with the pair’s lines scoring six goals while surrendering four.
Nichushkin has declined repeated interview requests this season, in good times and bad. But Johnson recalled to me that when he returned to the Avs in March, he found No. 13 to be a man at peace with the game — and with himself.
“He seems like the same old Val,” the veteran said. “Pretty personable, fun to talk to, likes to talk, likes being with the guys and puts a lot of work into his game. Just a really good person. He went through a tough time. And that happens no matter what walk of life you’re in, what job you have.”
At his apex, Val’s a tough assignment this time of year, the kind of mismatch artist who can swing a series. Too big to be easily muscled out of the crease, too fast for most defenders to keep pace. As a member of the Avs, he’s averaged 0.4 goals per postseason appearance, a 60% jump off his 0.25 career goals-per-game clip during the regular season.
“He’s just amazing,” Johnson said. “I mean, he’s a hell of a player in the regular season, and then the playoffs turn on, and he just turns into a complete beast for us.
“And he’s a forechecking machine, he can play both sides of the puck, offensive, defensive, power play, penalty kill. He’s just kind of a guy that everybody wants, but not everyone has on their team.”
Big Val was leading the NHL in postseason goals (nine) through Game 3 of last spring’s Stars series when the league announced he was entering Stage of the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program. The Avs went 5-3 with Nuke in the lineup against Winnipeg and Dallas; 1-2 without him.
In those first eight games, they averaged 4.5 goals per tilt. In the last three contests, that pace dipped to 2.7 goals.
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Exactly. But can you trust him?
“Well, I think (with) Val and what he’s done day-to-day in terms of dealing with a tough situation, a tough personal situation, and I think the organization continues to support Val,” MacFarland replied.
“But I look at what he’s done on the ice and what he’s had to go through and, again, (I) have the utmost faith in him that he’s in a great place and he’ll continue to grind it out here for us and be a good player.”
“He’s a great teammate. Works super hard. We love having him in the locker room. I think he’s in a great spot.”
He reminds you of an old Russian proverb Ronald Reagan made famous: Doveryai, no proveryai.
Trust, but verify.
“If we trust him,” Johnson shrugged, “I think everyone else should, too.”
We’ll forgive Nichushkin. But there’s only one way left for Big Val to make us truly forget. And no time like the present.
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