The last time the Colorado Avalanche played a game with Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin in the lineup together was Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final in 2022.
I can’t imagine that happening again.
Placed in Stage 3 of the Player Assistance Program and suspended for a minimum of six months last week, Valeri Nichushkin will not play another game in the NHL until at least November. If he is cleared to return to the league, I can’t imagine him being allowed back into that Avalanche locker room. While most of the players in the locker room said the right thing (or didn’t say much), you could hear the frustration in their voices.
Nichushkin disappointed them for the second consecutive season during the most important time of the year. I really hope Nichushkin can get the help he needs on a personal level, but in business you have to make tough decisions. The Avalanche simply have to find a way to move forward without the big winger.
How they move forward is another question entirely. The whole situation is a little murky at the moment, but Pierre Lebrun of The Athletic reported last week that what happened does not constitute a reason for a contract termination. Nichushkin’s salary will not count against the salary cap while he is suspended, but by the time he is reinstated, the Avalanche will have to make room.
It’s not exactly easy to get rid of $6,125,000 in contracts at any given time, so until we have some clarity, it almost has to be treated as dead cap space.
Unfortunately, that’s not the only murky situation looming over the offseason for the Avalanche.
Captain Gabriel Landeskog returned to skating in January following his cartilage transplant surgery last May. Sometimes you have to trust your eyes, and my eyes were telling me that he didn’t seem like a guy this close to coming back in the last few weeks. When I asked Jared Bednar how close Landeskog came to playing, he confirmed that was the case.
“I don’t think we came close to getting it back,” Bednar said. “I think he got to the point where it looked like he wasn’t going to be able to play this year, so they can be cautious and he has this summer to prepare.”
This time last summer, the Avalanche were clear about what was going to happen with Landeskog next season. He was already out of the question and they could plan to spend that $7 million in cap space on other players. This year, they don’t have that clarity (yet), although they really want their Captain back.
“I’m optimistic and hopeful (that he can return next season),” Bednar said. “And I really hope, not only for us, but for Gabe, that he can play again. He wants to play. It’s been a long road for him. I would like nothing more than to see it and be able to play again. And I think that can happen. If anyone can do it, Gabe can do it.”
I would love nothing more than to see Landeskog play again, and I believe it will happen. However, expectations need to be modified. If he returns, he can’t be expected to be the same player he was before the surgeries. This is a rare surgery and no NHL player has returned to play after undergoing it. If he comes back and somehow becomes a 30-goal scorer again, then maybe he really is a Golden God. I don’t trust that though.
General manager Chris MacFarland is expected to speak in the near future and there is no doubt that these two players will be the hottest topic of conversation. The Avalanche can’t really plan for their offseason until they have some clarity on what’s going on.
For a team looking to compete, that’s not a great place to be.
“You hate having that uncertainty because it makes it harder to plan,” Bednar said after the team lost to the Dallas Stars. “For management, for Chris and Joe, how do you plan? They’ll clear up those guys’ situations as best they can and then they’ll form a plan and go from there. I don’t know. I mean, you expect answers and clarity so you can build your team around that. But obviously it’s a couple of guys that have a significant impact on the salary cap. I don’t know where all of this is going this summer and how quickly they can fix it by July 1 or later. That’s a challenge. “It is a great challenge.”
In fact, it’s a big challenge, and Colorado’s status as a contender next season could depend on it.
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