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Avalanche’s Valeri Nichushkin has been suspended for six months and placed in Phase 3 of the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program

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Avalanche forward Valeri Nichushkin was placed in Phase 3 of the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program and suspended without pay for at least six months for violating the terms of Phase 2, the league announced Monday before Colorado’s Game 4 against the Dallas Stars Night.

The suspension comes after Nichushkin failed a drug test, ESPN reported in Monday’s pregame broadcast of Game 4. Nichushkin can apply for reinstatement once the six-month suspension period expires.

“The National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players’ Association announced today that forward Valeri Nichushkin of the Colorado Avalanche has been accepted into Phase 3 of the NHLPA and NHL Player Assistance Program,” the NHL and NHLPA said in a joint statement Explanation.

Nichushkin participated in the Avs’ Morning Skate on Monday. The team said it had no further comment on the matter beyond the joint statement from the NHL and NHLPA.

Players will not face a penalty if they participate in Phase 1 of the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program, which is their first inpatient treatment. If a player violates their Stage 1 treatment plan, they will be placed in Stage 2 and suspended without pay during the active treatment phase before being eligible to return.

If Nichushkin violates the terms of Level 3, he will be moved to Level 4 and face suspension without pay for at least one year with no prospect of reinstatement.

Nichushkin decided to enter the program in January and was given permission to train again at the end of February. In his return to action on March 8, Nichushkin scored a power play goal in overtime to defeat the Minnesota Wild.

The six-month suspension marks about the third time in the last year that Nichushkin will be away from the Avs.

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Nichushkin missed the final five games of Colorado’s first-round playoff loss to the Seattle Kraken last April after leaving the team under unclear circumstances.

Before Game 3 of that series, team doctor Bradley Changstrom encountered an intoxicated woman while checking on Nichushkin at the team’s hotel in Seattle, according to a Seattle Police Department behavioral crisis report released by The athlete. Changstrom determined the woman was too drunk to leave the hotel via taxi or rideshare, so 9-1-1 was called and she was taken to the hospital in an ambulance.

According to their bodycam footage, officers spoke with Changstrom, a Denver police lieutenant who was traveling with the team, and the 28-year-old woman. They did not speak to Nichushkin and there was no further police investigation into the incident. At the time, the team said Nichushkin’s absence was for “personal reasons.”

The striker returned to the team at training camp in September and said his absence was due to “family reasons”.

The NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program was created in 1996 to help players and their families with mental health, substance abuse and other issues.

In eight games this postseason, Nichushkin scored nine goals – a team high at the time of his suspension – and one assist. The Stars lead the Avs 2-1 in the second round.

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(Photo: Ashley Potts/NHLI via Getty Images)

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