Colorado Avalanche winger Valeri Nichushkin’s name has been brought up many times in the media as a player who could be traded. In fact, just on Thursday his name appeared on a trade board. While I don’t personally believe he will get traded, if he does, the Avalanche need to be smart about it.
Nichushkin is a tremendous asset to the Avalanche. A lot of people seem to be turned off from his availability, or lack thereof. While he missed just 10 games in the 2025-26 season, his 72 games played were the most of his Avalanche career. Before last season, his career-high as an Avalanche was 65, done in 2019-20.
He can play all across the lineup with several different linemates. He’s still a physical presence on the ice and the Avalanche are better with him than without him.
That could potentially lower his trade value despite being a top-six player for the Avalanche for a number of years. If it diminishes his value greatly, then it makes little to no sense for the Avalanche to move him. He is also 31-years-old, and while many players would have several more years left in the tank, there’s no guarantee.
That right there would be a reason for the Avalanche to move on from him, but they would have to convince another team that the trade would be worth it.
Then there is the question of what the Avalanche would get in return for Nichushkin. If the Avs can convince another team that Nichushkin is worth trading for, I would aim for a sky-high asking price. A second or third-round draft pick and a depth forward would be what I would ask for. If they wanted to go all-out, they could ask for a top-six forward who is around Nichushkin’s age, or perhaps younger. Gabriel Landeskog and Brock Nelson’s ages have something to do with that. They are closer to the end of their careers than the beginning. The same is true of Nazem Kadri.
Nichushkin can play all across the lineup with several different line-mates while he mans a wing spot. He’s still a physical presence on the ice and the Avalanche are better with him than without him.
So, why move on from him if there are this many positives to having him around? Well, the elephant in the room is the Cale Makar contract. Moving on from Nichushkin would free up $6.125 million in cap space. But, if they are moving him for cap space purposes, they probably would not be acquiring an expensive top-six player. Maybe there is someone out there on an inexpensive deal that they could find a way to sign for several million less.
I would think that somewhere around $3 million cheaper would be alright—ideally cheaper. Makar’s contract will be huge. He could come in at around $16-17 million AAV. The current highest AAV defenseman is Erik Karlsson, at $11.5 million, though his contract is set to expire. Additionally, Rasmus Dahlin and Drew Doughty are on extensions of $11 million AAV.
It would be a shame if the Avs cleared cap space without obtaining something big in return. But, if they end up doing that, Makar is the player to do it for. It could be a mess but this is part of the job for general manager Joe Sakic. He signed up for it and he’s the man for the job.
Hopefully Nichushkin is still an Avalanche in 2026-27 and beyond, but we shall see.
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