Avalanche announce MAJOR commitment to Valeri Nichushkin
He's not going anywhere!
The Colorado Avalanche have already guaranteed that they'll be bringing back one key piece of their 2021-22 Stanley Cup championship squad. According to multiple reports, they've made a major commitment to forward Valeri Nichushkin in the form of an eight-year contract extension worth a reported $49 million; he'll be paid a handsome $6.125 million per season over the duration of the deal that goes through the 2029-30 NHL season.
The 27 year-old Nichushkin, who is coming off a two year, $5 million deal, proved himself to be a valuable commodity for the Avalanche, scoring a career best 25 goals with 27 assists during the regular season. He also played a key role in Colorado's championship run, tallying nine goals and six assists for 15 points in 20 postseason games.
He made his way to the Avalanche as a free agent, signing a modest $850,000 deal after spending the first portion of his NHL career with the Dallas Stars, who made him the No. 10 overall pick in the 2013 NHL Draft.
Of course, this may mean that the team may indeed have to bid goodbye to one or more of their pending free agents, including the likes of Nazem Kadri, Josh Manson and André Burakovsky.
