Avalanche forward Valeri Nichushkin has been suspended for at least six months

Colorado Avalanche forward Valeri Nichushkin has been suspended by the NHL for at least six months.

The league announced the news Monday night, about an hour before the Avs and Stars played Game 4 of their second-round playoff series.

Nichushkin is in Phase 3 of the NHL and NHLPA’s Player Assistance Program.

“Under the terms of the joint program, Nichushkin will be suspended without pay for a minimum of six months and may then apply for reinstatement,” the league said in a news release.

Nichushkin missed the last five games of the Avalanche’s first-round game against the Kraken a year ago after leaving the team from a Seattle hotel. There was a police report, a 911 call and body camera footage, but details remained unclear. At the time, a Russian woman told police that a “bad man” had stolen her passport.

Nichushkin was not punished by the league for the incident.

At training camp before the start of this year, Nichushkin didn’t want to talk about what happened.

“It’s a new season now and we have to focus on it,” Nichushkin said in September. “Let’s close it, I don’t want to talk about it.”

Nichushkin was not with the team at the start of this season, including in the Player Assistance Program. At the time, he vowed to sort out his problems “once and for all.”

The Avalanche trail the Stars 2-1 in the series and will not have to rely on Nichushkin for the remainder of the playoffs. He won’t be back until next November at the earliest for the 2024/25 season.

In eight playoff games prior to Monday night, Valeri Nichushkin led Colorado in postseason goals with nine.