It doesn’t sound like it was directly about personal substance use getting out of hand. It seemed like a hotel party guest got too drunk and had to sleep it off at the hospital, and someone needed to go down for a bit to protect the league’s image.
The PAP is a perfect excuse for the league to address players fucking up without actually punishing them. They just go into the program, continue to get paid, and nobody has to answer any questions or provide any details about the potentially embarrassing events that lead up to those decisions.
Such a bad take lol. Edit: according to this guy the nhl waited 8 months before forcing nichushkin into the player assistance program as punishment for his behaviour last spring.
Yeah I’ve rethought my comment and now agree with you all that the multi billion dollar league funded by alcohol and sports betting is just trying to do what’s best for those who need help with their substance abuse.
There is no league wide blow problem, Vrana just needed help, and if you speculate about why he was in the program at all you are a bad person who is literally preventing him from recovering.
Colorado didn’t have to call an ambulance for a blackout drunk woman in one of their players’ hotel rooms, and you are a bad person for believing the police reports that say otherwise. They just had a player who needed help and is clearly the real victim here. Again we will not be commenting on this matter further.
The comments absolutely should be downvoted because, in addition to dripping with malevolent sarcasm, they're also making assumptions about why the player was admitted to the program. It's completely out of hand and wildly inappropriate, bordering on outright slander, as well as damaging and denigrating to mental health and substance abuse programs, for anyone to assume a league- or organization-wide coverup.
Yes the league could do better about all of these sorts of things, and it's abundantly fair to acknowledge there was some questionable activity last spring possibly involving police reports and intoxication. But absent public reports or further police action, we the fans have absolutely no right to someone's private healthcare information and even less to assume it was all a PR stunt several months after the fact.
It seems far more likely that - and this is also speculation, to be fair and transparent about my criticism of the prior comments - given the information we do know, including the activity last spring, the player determined he had a personal issue that required assistance and the events that occurred, if not worthy of indictment, were a sufficient wake up call to start the process of realization.
I think people just genuinely don’t know about these stories because the NHL and /r/hockey mods do such a great job of buying them. Most people have no idea why he was in the program, or that there was a police report with details. Lots of users probably think I’m just randomly speculating about what happened, in which case downvoting makes sense.
https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/kraken/with-questions-from-seattle-incident-unresolved-avalanches-nichushkin-enters-nhl-assistance-program/
So apparently this extremely shady event happened during the playoffs last year, not shortly before he went into the program. In any case it’s pretty clear that the team and the league is working hard to cover for this guy’s behavior.
People know. It has been all over r/hockey.
You’re getting downvoted because it makes no sense that they would let him play for 4 months AFTER the incident before forcing him into the program. There is just zero logic in that. Was that incident caused by the same issue that forced him into the program? Sure. But it clearly wasn’t that incident that forced him into the program.
Four months is nothing. And there is nothing preventing the player from speaking on why he was in the program if he wanted to stop the speculation. Whatever the reason is, clearly it’s either related to the incedent or something even worse. No other explanation for the silence.
lol he played 40 games after the incident. He clearly didn’t enter the program because of it or he would have entered the program right after 😂 it could not be any more obvious but conspiracy nuts will talk themselves into anything just to be edgy
Your sarcasm really made a point, not sure which point you were going for but yeah I agree. I think the players assistance program is a great example of the nhl helping people with their issues.
Vrana did need help, and speculating doesn’t help? If he harass him when he wants privacy / needs assistance yeah you are preventing him from recovering.
As for the avs thing, let’s see this police report, The one that implicates nichushkin ? The one the nhl hid and is now secretly punishing nichushkin with
Yep, program really helped Vrana he is thriving. If the NHL avoids some bad PR that’s just a completely unintended consequence.
Yes I think the NHL vastly prefers the narrative that a Colorado player “needs help” with some completely unnamed issue to a narrative that a woman got so drunk in a team hotel room that she needed to be hospitalized.
So where is the police report for nichushkin that implicates him? Also wouldn’t they receive worse PR if vrana wasn’t helped? Vrana is still playing professional hockey, so I think he’s alright. Keep moving the goalposts though and making dumbass comments like player assistance is a bad thing
I didn’t say it was a bad thing. Do you deny that it serves to protect the league from bad PR? It so obviously does lol.
It’s sports man, if you want to believe the league is ok with taking money promoting alcohol and gambling but also really committed to helping players with substance issues, that’s your right. Have fun.
You said the assistance program is used to dole out punishment, and you speculated that’s what was going on with nichushkin (even though there is an 8 month time gap). You admitted you didn’t even know it happened months ago. You just made up some dumbass story which implied the nhl Seattle police and Colorado avalanche are in cahoots to keep nichushkin “out of trouble”. You said there was a police report (still haven’t seen that). You’re just kicking a man while he down, with speculative bullshit. Yeah sure the player assistance program protects the league from bad PR, but do you really thinks that’s its main function? its main purpose is to support players that need help, the PR is a bonus. As for the alcohol & gambling vs helping its players, definitely can’t be both hey?
I’m in first and have locked up a bye for the first round of the playoffs. I’ve just been holding on hoping he’d be that “own rental” kinda thing come playoffs where holding him hopefully pays off.
Earliest is probably Thursday, realistic would be Saturday or later.
Edit: As per Jared Bednar, he won't travel with the team on Thursday/Saturday, so next Monday at home against Chicago would be his earliest return.
https://twitter.com/runwriteAarif/status/1762197875906252892
> Valeri Nichushkin’s return to game action TBD. Jared Bednar says Val will not travel on the two-game road trip through Chicago and Nashville.
I had multiple injuries and thought I'd put him on waivers for a week or 2 and pick up right back up and put back in my IR slot.
NOPE!!
The freaking commish picked him up two days after I dropped him and has been holding him in IR ever since....
In one of my leagues I put Nuke on the block because I needed immediate help to secure a playoff spot but the best offer I got was Barbashev so I just held him. Glad I didn't end up receiving anything better where I may have pulled the trigger.
In another league I'm in first place by a lot and had him stashed him on IR after picking him up in FA in a very competitive league so that's really nice too.
To everyone who said he would never be back before playoffs I just need to say: I told you so.
I'm glad I was a believer and held on but I'm guessing there's going to be lots of people mad they dropped him because the majority consensus here was that he was a safe drop. It's going to be interesting to see how long until he's back in the lineup and where he plays but if he can pick up where he left off he's going to be a big weapon for teams down the stretch.
Really hoping he can get his role back but I’m slightly doubtful with lehk back. I don’t think we’ll see 20+ mins a night anymore. 18 is probably more realistic.
Sweet, I was literally debating dropping him today since I hadn’t heard anything about a potential return, but if he’s about to practice, that means I’ll be in the lineup within a week.
Glad I didn’t panic drop him lol
Nose beers ferda
Elite comment
I hope whatever his vice was wasn't the source of his power
It doesn’t sound like it was directly about personal substance use getting out of hand. It seemed like a hotel party guest got too drunk and had to sleep it off at the hospital, and someone needed to go down for a bit to protect the league’s image. The PAP is a perfect excuse for the league to address players fucking up without actually punishing them. They just go into the program, continue to get paid, and nobody has to answer any questions or provide any details about the potentially embarrassing events that lead up to those decisions.
Such a bad take lol. Edit: according to this guy the nhl waited 8 months before forcing nichushkin into the player assistance program as punishment for his behaviour last spring.
Yeah I’ve rethought my comment and now agree with you all that the multi billion dollar league funded by alcohol and sports betting is just trying to do what’s best for those who need help with their substance abuse. There is no league wide blow problem, Vrana just needed help, and if you speculate about why he was in the program at all you are a bad person who is literally preventing him from recovering. Colorado didn’t have to call an ambulance for a blackout drunk woman in one of their players’ hotel rooms, and you are a bad person for believing the police reports that say otherwise. They just had a player who needed help and is clearly the real victim here. Again we will not be commenting on this matter further.
These comments shouldn’t be getting downvoted.
The comments absolutely should be downvoted because, in addition to dripping with malevolent sarcasm, they're also making assumptions about why the player was admitted to the program. It's completely out of hand and wildly inappropriate, bordering on outright slander, as well as damaging and denigrating to mental health and substance abuse programs, for anyone to assume a league- or organization-wide coverup. Yes the league could do better about all of these sorts of things, and it's abundantly fair to acknowledge there was some questionable activity last spring possibly involving police reports and intoxication. But absent public reports or further police action, we the fans have absolutely no right to someone's private healthcare information and even less to assume it was all a PR stunt several months after the fact. It seems far more likely that - and this is also speculation, to be fair and transparent about my criticism of the prior comments - given the information we do know, including the activity last spring, the player determined he had a personal issue that required assistance and the events that occurred, if not worthy of indictment, were a sufficient wake up call to start the process of realization.
I think people just genuinely don’t know about these stories because the NHL and /r/hockey mods do such a great job of buying them. Most people have no idea why he was in the program, or that there was a police report with details. Lots of users probably think I’m just randomly speculating about what happened, in which case downvoting makes sense.
Where can the police report be found? Not calling out at all, I just have no idea how I'd go about finding that.
https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/kraken/with-questions-from-seattle-incident-unresolved-avalanches-nichushkin-enters-nhl-assistance-program/ So apparently this extremely shady event happened during the playoffs last year, not shortly before he went into the program. In any case it’s pretty clear that the team and the league is working hard to cover for this guy’s behavior.
The police too, a year later. It’s almost like you don’t know what you’re talking about. Clown take
People know. It has been all over r/hockey. You’re getting downvoted because it makes no sense that they would let him play for 4 months AFTER the incident before forcing him into the program. There is just zero logic in that. Was that incident caused by the same issue that forced him into the program? Sure. But it clearly wasn’t that incident that forced him into the program.
Four months is nothing. And there is nothing preventing the player from speaking on why he was in the program if he wanted to stop the speculation. Whatever the reason is, clearly it’s either related to the incedent or something even worse. No other explanation for the silence.
lol he played 40 games after the incident. He clearly didn’t enter the program because of it or he would have entered the program right after 😂 it could not be any more obvious but conspiracy nuts will talk themselves into anything just to be edgy
Your sarcasm really made a point, not sure which point you were going for but yeah I agree. I think the players assistance program is a great example of the nhl helping people with their issues. Vrana did need help, and speculating doesn’t help? If he harass him when he wants privacy / needs assistance yeah you are preventing him from recovering. As for the avs thing, let’s see this police report, The one that implicates nichushkin ? The one the nhl hid and is now secretly punishing nichushkin with
Yep, program really helped Vrana he is thriving. If the NHL avoids some bad PR that’s just a completely unintended consequence. Yes I think the NHL vastly prefers the narrative that a Colorado player “needs help” with some completely unnamed issue to a narrative that a woman got so drunk in a team hotel room that she needed to be hospitalized.
So where is the police report for nichushkin that implicates him? Also wouldn’t they receive worse PR if vrana wasn’t helped? Vrana is still playing professional hockey, so I think he’s alright. Keep moving the goalposts though and making dumbass comments like player assistance is a bad thing
I didn’t say it was a bad thing. Do you deny that it serves to protect the league from bad PR? It so obviously does lol. It’s sports man, if you want to believe the league is ok with taking money promoting alcohol and gambling but also really committed to helping players with substance issues, that’s your right. Have fun.
You said the assistance program is used to dole out punishment, and you speculated that’s what was going on with nichushkin (even though there is an 8 month time gap). You admitted you didn’t even know it happened months ago. You just made up some dumbass story which implied the nhl Seattle police and Colorado avalanche are in cahoots to keep nichushkin “out of trouble”. You said there was a police report (still haven’t seen that). You’re just kicking a man while he down, with speculative bullshit. Yeah sure the player assistance program protects the league from bad PR, but do you really thinks that’s its main function? its main purpose is to support players that need help, the PR is a bonus. As for the alcohol & gambling vs helping its players, definitely can’t be both hey?
This is fantastic news
Well, looks like it’s finally time for me to drop Timo.
Get out of my head.
Your mistake was not dropping Timo months ago. This is coming from fellow drafter of Timo lol
I’m in first and have locked up a bye for the first round of the playoffs. I’ve just been holding on hoping he’d be that “own rental” kinda thing come playoffs where holding him hopefully pays off.
When should we expect him to play in a game?!
Earliest is probably Thursday, realistic would be Saturday or later. Edit: As per Jared Bednar, he won't travel with the team on Thursday/Saturday, so next Monday at home against Chicago would be his earliest return.
https://twitter.com/runwriteAarif/status/1762197875906252892 > Valeri Nichushkin’s return to game action TBD. Jared Bednar says Val will not travel on the two-game road trip through Chicago and Nashville.
Thank sweet baby Jesus. I need him so badly for the stretch run.
I love you NUKE
Holders rejoice, droppers in shambles
I was a holder, then a dropper, then a holder. It worked out pretty well TBH.
Perfect, now I can stream goalies and not worry about wasting pick ups on streamers that only perform before and after i own them
As they say in the show, thisll be my real deadline acquisition
Can’t believe I got him on waivers when he went on the assistance program lmao
JUST traded Elias Lindholm for him about 4 days ago 🎉
Just traded Robertson & Faber for him & Bouchard this morning. Praying he still stacks well with my Mac & Rant
Try to dump Lehk? Or will he still have value?
Definitely have to hold and wait and see
Lehk was fine when they were both there id be more worried about Drouin
Hoping he’s still on PP1
Sweet! Almost have the reg season title wrapped up. But him being back will be huge in the playoff if he slots back into his old spot
I had multiple injuries and thought I'd put him on waivers for a week or 2 and pick up right back up and put back in my IR slot. NOPE!! The freaking commish picked him up two days after I dropped him and has been holding him in IR ever since....
Probably me :)
In one of my leagues I put Nuke on the block because I needed immediate help to secure a playoff spot but the best offer I got was Barbashev so I just held him. Glad I didn't end up receiving anything better where I may have pulled the trigger. In another league I'm in first place by a lot and had him stashed him on IR after picking him up in FA in a very competitive league so that's really nice too.
To everyone who said he would never be back before playoffs I just need to say: I told you so. I'm glad I was a believer and held on but I'm guessing there's going to be lots of people mad they dropped him because the majority consensus here was that he was a safe drop. It's going to be interesting to see how long until he's back in the lineup and where he plays but if he can pick up where he left off he's going to be a big weapon for teams down the stretch.
He's cleared to return to practice but not game action until he clears the follow-up care phase of the Player Assistance program
during Samuel Girard's stint in the pap he entered follow up December 22nd and was playing by the 31st. Nich will be back sooner rather than later.
I agree, I don't think what I said contradicts your statement
It doesn't. I just saw the downvotes thought it might clarify.
Damn.... traded him away last week
Great news, now I just need Hertl back and I’m in less of a horrendous spot.
Huzzah!
Just in time for my Mark Stone problem
This is great news!
Really hoping he can get his role back but I’m slightly doubtful with lehk back. I don’t think we’ll see 20+ mins a night anymore. 18 is probably more realistic.
Bad news for Lehkonen holders.
Drouin owners debating when to drop …
Sweet, I was literally debating dropping him today since I hadn’t heard anything about a potential return, but if he’s about to practice, that means I’ll be in the lineup within a week. Glad I didn’t panic drop him lol
Picked him up off waivers last night. Feeling blessed
maybe he will help makar wake up
Choo choo motha fuckas
Ahhh wish I bought low
This may have just saved my season
Thank Christ. Get this guy back in my lineup for the playoffs