(Seattle) The Colorado Avalanche declined to elaborate on the status of forward Valeri Nichushkin, who has been sidelined for days, or a police report regarding an incident at the team hotel in Seattle last weekend.
Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar said Friday that Nichushkin was sidelined for personal reasons. Asked later whether Nichushkin had been dropped for violating team rules, Bednar again cited personal reasons.
“It’s not a professional decision. It’s a personal decision that explains his absence,” insisted Bednar before the Avalanche faced the Kraken in Game 6 of their series, which the Seattle club led 3-2.
“Next question,” Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen said when asked about Nichushkin.
Agents representing Nichushkin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Nichushkin hasn’t played since Game 2 on April 20, when he scored in the Avalanche’s 3-2 win. Bednar announced late Saturday that Nichushkin would not participate in morning practice before Game 3 in order to take advantage of treatment. After the match, Bednar said Nichushkin would be sidelined for personal reasons.
Officers responded to an emergency call from the Four Seasons Hotel in Seattle at 3:44 p.m. the afternoon of Game 3, according to a Seattle Police Department report obtained by The Associated Press Friday.
A 28-year-old woman was in an ambulance when officers arrived and paramedics were told to speak with Avalanche physician Dr. Bradley Changstrom for further details.
According to the report, Changstrom told officers that team employees found the woman when they wanted to reach Nichushkin. Changstrom added that the woman appeared to be highly intoxicated, too intoxicated to leave the hotel “in a taxi or ride-hailing service.” He therefore asked to contact the emergency services.
Changstrom claimed the woman hit him, but he does not want to press charges, according to the report.
When questioned by officers in the ambulance, the woman said she was from Russia but was a native of Ukraine. She was admitted to Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, according to the report.
Nichushkin, a native of Chelyabinsk, Russia, is playing his fourth season with the Avalanche and his eighth in the NHL.
With contributions from Stephen Whyno and Pat Graham, Associated Press
2023-04-28 21:08:15
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