Valeri Ivanovich Nichushkin (russian: Валерий Иванович Ничушкин; born March 4, 1995) is a Russian professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

right winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

who currently plays for the

Colorado Avalanche The Colorado Avalanche (colloquially known as the Avs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Denver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The Avalanche play thei ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL). He was selected by the Dallas Stars in the first round, 10th overall, of the

2013 NHL Entry Draft The 2013 NHL Entry Draft was the 51st NHL Entry Draft. All seven rounds of the draft took place on June 30, 2013, at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The top three selections were Nathan MacKinnon going to the Colorado Avalanche, Alek ...

. Nichushkin won the

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...

with the Avalanche in

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

Playing career

KHL

After one season in the

Kontinental Hockey League The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; russian: Континентальная хоккейная лига (КХЛ), Kontinental'naya khokkeynaya liga) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs ba ...

(KHL), Nichushkin transferred from

Traktor Chelyabinsk Traktor Chelyabinsk, also known as Traktor (russian: Трактор), is a professional ice hockey team based in Chelyabinsk, Russia. They are members of the Kharlamov Division of the Eastern Conference of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). F ...

Dynamo Moscow MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (russian: МГО ВФСО «Динамо»), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (russian: Динамо Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first ...

on May 1, 2013. He then signed a two-year contract with Dynamo. However, the deal was terminated conditionally, allowing Nichushkin to play in the NHL, or be returned to Dynamo if he failed to make the NHL team.

NHL

Dallas Stars

Nichushkin played his first regular season NHL game on October 3, 2013, against the

Florida Panthers The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern ...

. He scored his first career NHL goal on November 3, 2013, against Craig Anderson of the

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (french: Sénateurs d'Ottawa), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a membe ...

Following a strong rookie season, registering 14 goals and 20 assists, Nichushkin suffered from hip and groin soreness in the beginning of his sophomore campaign, 2014–15. Five games into the season, Nichushkin opted for hip surgery, which was performed on November 18, 2014. He rehabbed in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

and re-joined the team in March 2015, practicing in a red no-contact jersey. As a restricted free agent following the conclusion of his entry-level deal in the 2015–16 season, Nichushkin and the Stars failed to agree to common grounds in contract negotiations. Unhappy with his current role within the Stars line-up, his KHL rights were traded from Dynamo Moscow to

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow (russian: ЦСКА Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was a central piece ...

on September 20, 2016. He subsequently signed a two-year contract to return to the KHL with CSKA, with his NHL rights to be kept by the Stars. After two seasons with CSKA, Nichushkin returned to the Stars organization, in agreeing to a two-year, $5.9 million contract on July 1, 2018. In his return to the Stars in the 2018–19 season, Nichushkin recorded 10 assists in 54 regular-season games, averaging 11:55 time on ice per game. Nichushkin skated in one game during the playoffs with the Stars and failed to record a point. After a disappointing 2018-19 campaign, failing to score a goal through 57 games, Nichushkin was placed on unconditional waivers by the Stars and subsequently bought out from the remaining year of his contract with the team on 30 June 2019.

Colorado Avalanche

Nichushkin signed a one-year, $850k contract with the

on August 19, 2019. Nichushkin scored his first goal in 2 years on November 23, 2019. In his first season with the Avalanche, generally perceived to be a successful one, Nichushkin especially received high praise from many hockey analytics proponents for his high rankings in many metrics, especially defensive metrics. Nichushkin finished the 2019-20 season with 13 goals and 27 points while leading all forwards in the NHL in defensive Goals Above Replacement. Such strong defensive play helped Nichushkin to receive votes for the

Frank J. Selke Trophy The Frank J. Selke Trophy, or simply the Selke Trophy, is awarded annually to the National Hockey League forward who demonstrates the most skill in the defensive component of the game. The winner is selected by a poll of the Professional Hockey W ...

, the award given to the best defensive forward in the NHL, finishing 8th in voting. On October 10, 2020, the Avalanche re-signed Nichushkin, who was a restricted free agent, to a 2-year, $5 million contract extension. In his third season with Avalanche, Nichushkin elevated in a top-six forward role, scored a career-best 52 points in 62 games, adding 15 points in 20 playoff games. He placed third on the team with 9 playoff goals to help the Avalanche claim their first Stanley Cup in 21 years. On July 11, 2022, Nichushkin signed an eight-year, $49 million extension to stay with the Avalanche.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and honours

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nichushkin, Valeri 1995 births Living people Belye Medvedi Chelyabinsk players HC CSKA Moscow players Colorado Avalanche players Dallas Stars draft picks Dallas Stars players Ice hockey players at the 2014 Winter Olympics National Hockey League first-round draft picks Olympic ice hockey players of Russia Russian expatriate ice hockey people Russian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Russian ice hockey right wingers Sportspeople from Chelyabinsk Stanley Cup champions Texas Stars players Traktor Chelyabinsk players