DENVER (AP) — Valeri Nichushkin took strides to take his hard-checking, goal-scoring game to another level this season.
Same with his life away from the rink, his Colorado Avalanche teammates, coach and GM maintain.
It was nearly a year ago against the Dallas Stars when Nichushkin was suspended for six months and placed in Stage 3 of the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program. The announcement came just before Game 4 of the second-round series, marking the second straight postseason where the right winger from Russia was unavailable because of circumstances away from the ice.
Nichushkin and the Avalanche are facing the Stars — the team that drafted him in 2013 — in a first-round series that starts Saturday in Dallas.
“His personal life’s in a really good spot,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said Friday before the team boarded a plane for Dallas. ”I’m just really happy for him and proud that he put in the work."
Added teammate Logan O’Connor: "Anyone that goes through that personal adversity, it’s hard not to root for them. The comeback he’s had has been remarkable. To play at the level he has, it’s definitely something that guys are proud of for him, and we certainly root for him all the time.”
When in the lineup, the 30-year-old Nichushkin has been a valuable piece for the Avalanche. The team is 224-79-29 all-time when he plays. But he’s missed the past two playoff losses for off-the-ice issues.
Earlier this week, general manager Chris MacFarland was asked about potential trust issues given what's transpired with Nichushkin.
"I’ve got the utmost confidence and faith in Val,” MacFarland said. “I look at what he’s done on the ice and what he’s had to go through, and again, have the utmost faith in him that he’s in a great place, and he’ll continue to to grind it out here for us and be a good player.”
Nichushkin missed the opening 17 games because of the suspension before making his season debut on Nov. 15 against Washington. He’s banged up, too, and sidelined for 21 games due to a lower-body injury. Still, he finished with 21 goals and 13 assists in averaging just under 20 minutes of ice time.
The 6-foot-4, 210-pound Nichushkin is a “forechecking machine,” according to defenseman Erik Johnson, and contributes on special teams. He had his first regular-season hat trick last month.
“Just a player everyone needs but not everybody has,” Johnson said of Nichushkin, who was an integral part of Colorado winning the Stanley Cup in 2022. “We’re luck to have him.”
It was a blow for the Avalanche losing him against the Stars. Colorado went on to lose the series in six games.
This after Nichushkin abruptly left the team in a 2023 first-round playoff series against Seattle for what was described as personal reasons. He missed the final five games of that postseason as the Avalanche lost the series 4-3.
“He took the right necessary steps to get in a healthy place. We had his back the whole time,” O’Connor said. "He's been awesome. I think he’s really improved on his own well-being, and he’s opened up more. As a locker room, we maybe weren’t doing as good of a job making him feel open before that as well. It’s collectively been really healthy this year. You’ve seen the results on the ice, and we’re really proud of him.
"It’s been a tough journey for him, but we’re happy he’s at where he’s at. He’s in a great place.”
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Colorado Avalanche right wing Valeri Nichushkin (13) reacts after getting hit in the face during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Los Angeles Kings, Saturday, April 12, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/William Liang)
Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Shea Theodore (27) defends against Colorado Avalanche right wing Valeri Nichushkin (13) in the first period of an NHL hockey game Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/Geneva Heffernan)
Colorado Avalanche right wing Valeri Nichushkin (13) skates against Vegas Golden Knights center Nicolas Roy (10) during the first period of an NHL hockey game Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/Geneva Heffernan)
ALEPPO, Syria (AP) — First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.
The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.
The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.
The U.S.-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Islamic State group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria's national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.
The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”
The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.
Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.
The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.
On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.
Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.
“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”
Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.
Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.
“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.
Associated Press journalist Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.
Sandbag barriers used as fighting positions by Kurdish fighters, left inside a destroyed mosque in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Burned vehicles at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
People flee the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
A Syrian military police convoy enters the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Burned vehicles and ammunitions left at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
