Mile High Sticking
Fansided

Colorado Avalanche: Valeri Nichushkin extension is respectable

By Graham Tiedtke

DENVER, COLORADO - JUNE 24: Valeri Nichushkin #13 of the Colorado Avalanche celebrates a goal by Cale Makar #8 of the Colorado Avalanche during the third period in Game Five of the 2022 NHL Stanley Cup Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Ball Arena on June 24, 2022 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
DENVER, COLORADO - JUNE 24: Valeri Nichushkin #13 of the Colorado Avalanche celebrates a goal by Cale Makar #8 of the Colorado Avalanche during the third period in Game Five of the 2022 NHL Stanley Cup Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Ball Arena on June 24, 2022 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

The Colorado Avalanche have gotten a deal done with Valeri Nichushkin, something that was very high on their priority list.

The Colorado Avalanche and Avs Nation can rest easy, as the team has signed winger Valeri Nichushkin to an 8-year extension. The deal has an annual value of $6.125 million.

That’s roughly the number that has been expected of this deal. Nichushkin absolutely deserves every dime in this contract.

Per CapFriendly.com, the Colorado Avalanche currently have $14,910,000 in cap space.

Nichushkin arrived to the Avalanche as a free agent in 2019 after starting his first four years in the NHL with the Dallas Stars. Nichushkin has really developed into a star since coming to the Avalanche.

After totalling 25 goals during his stint with the Stars, Nichushkin has 48 goals since joining the Avalanche. He had 25 goals in just last season alone. He has 71 career goals, 103 assists, and a plus-minus of 69.

Nichushkin suffered a bad foot injury during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He amazingly was still able to fight through the pain and log almost 23 minutes in the series-sealing game. That’s fight right there. That’s the type of player you should want on your team, as long as he does not cost your team a game as big as the Stanley Cup Final.

The list of in-house free agents continues to shrink, slowly but surely.

Ideally, the Avalanche would re-sign Nichushkin’s line-mate Nazem Kadri to keep a form of chemistry going. That’s something that is concerning to Avalanche fans: will Kadri cost too much? It sounds like that is the case.

Nichushkin will be 35-years old when this new contract expires, likely keeping him around with the Avalanche for the remaining years of his career.

The focus for the Avalanche will now shift to Andre Burakovsky, Arturri Lehkonen and potentially Nazem Kadri. The team declined to extend a qualifying offer to Nicolas Aube-Kubel. While he can now test free agency when it opens, he’s still eligible to re-sign with the Avalanche.

Home/Avalanche News