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Nichushkin will be held back until regular season for Colorado Avalanche

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) /
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The Colorado Avalanche begin training camp on Thursday, but we’ll have to wait until the start of the regular season to see Valeri Nichushkin at full speed.

During the playoffs, Colorado Avalanche winger Valeri Nichushkin suffered a foot injury that he ended up playing on, on the team’s way to winning the biggest team achievement in the sport: the Stanley Cup.

Later on, Nichushkin shared an image of the banged-up foot, as well as an x-ray.

A foot injury is something that you can’t take lightly, especially as a pro athlete. It is crucial to take care of your body and rehab it as needed.

Head coach Jared Bednar said that the team is still hopeful that Nichushkin will be ready for the start of the regular season, which takes place October 12th against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Colorado Avalanche will be okay while taking Valeri Nichushkin recovery slowly.

This is what depth is for. The Avalanche can plug in a player into Valeri Nichushkin’s first-line left wing role beside Nathan MacKinnon. It could give them an opportunity to see other players in that spot.

The Avalanche brought in Evan Rodrigues as a free agent recently. Rodrigues could potentially fill in at Nichushkin’s spot if the team decides to go in a different direction at the second-line center position.

Long-term, taking Nichushkin’s injury slow is the smart move. The reality is that this is a very long season and the goal remains the same: repeat as champions. Their best course of action is to not rush Nichushkin back. Rushing him back would increase the chance of something going wrong and him missing more time.

It’ll be interesting to see how the lines shift with the injury to Nichushkin, but at the end of the day, the Colorado Avalanche will be fine.

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