Colorado Avalanche: Reaction to the Valeri Nichushkin Signing

The Colorado Avalanche made another depth move by signing winger Valeri Nichushkin to a one-year deal just weeks before training camp.

The Colorado Avalanche have signed winger Valeri Nichushkin to a one-year deal worth a reported $850,000. In other words, they gave him the most obvious of show-me contracts.

And with good reason — Nichushkin is a recent buyout with the Dallas Stars. Dallas drafted the Russian in 2013 at the #10 position. They signed him right away to his three-year entry level contract.

More from Mile High Sticking

Nichushkin had a decent rookie season. He recorded 34 points (14 goals, 20 assists) in 79 games. Unfortunately, hip and groin issues impacted his second season. He had surgery to fix the problems, but ultimately played only eight games.

The following season saw something of a bounceback for Nichushkin. In 79 games, he recorded 9 goals and 20 assists in 79 games. Not great, but not bad for a player who missed most of the previous season of competitive hockey.

Unfortunately, the player and the team were unable to come to terms as he hit restricted free agency. So, Valeri pulled the classic Russian move — he went to play in the KHL.

He played fine for CSKA Moskva, recording 24 points (11 goals, 13 assists) in 36 games the first season and 27 points (16 goals, 11 assists) the following year.

Then, last summer, the Dallas Stars wooed Nichushkin back to the NHL. They signed him to a two-year contract worth $2.95 million annually. They hoped the then-23-year-old winger would pan out.

He flopped. He recorded just 10 assists in 57 games. Dallas scratched him pretty regularly. And at the end of the season, they bought out his contract.

And now we have him. Valeri Nichushkin is a big (6-foot-4, 210 pounds) winger who’s scouted as being a powerful skater with “plenty of skill and scoring ability.” However, he’s also known for lacking consistency and taking shifts off.

So, his situation represents the classic scenario in which the Colorado Avalanche offer a “change of scenery” to a player who maybe, just maybe, wasn’t a good fit for his old team. I guess they didn’t think Andre Burakovswky offered enough of a challenge in that respect.

In case you can’t tell, I’m not a fan of the signing. I already had the Avalanche’s lines sorted out:

Landeskog-MacKinnon-Rantanen

Jost-Kadri-Burakovsky

Wilson-Compher-Donskoi

Nieto-Bellemare-Calvert

Those line combinations also feature players such as Vladislav Kamenev, A.J. Greer, Logan O’Conner, and Shane Bowers challenging for a spot — you know, our own development projects rather than someone else’s.

Plus, while I’m no Jared Bednar cheerleader, I will acknowledge he does something very right — he takes his ire out on passengers. If Nichushkin takes shifts off, he’s going to find himself with no ice time.

Well, I guess Valeri Nichushkin can be a low-risk, high-reward type of player. He has a lot to prove. Might as well let him try to prove it with the Colorado Avalanche.

I do wish the Avs would focus on a couple other areas of business — securing us another goalie and, you know, getting Mikko Rantanen signed.