Why the Avs took a flyer on Valeri Nichushkin

Valeri Nichushkin played 57 games with the Dallas Stars last season as a forward and didn’t score a goal. Despite being the 10th overall pick of the 2013 NHL entry draft by Dallas, despite being just 24 years old, the Stars actually bought out the final year of Nichushkin’s existing contract – which had a $2.95 million cap hit.

Enter Joe Sakic and the Avs, who essentially are taking a one-year flyer on the Russian winger. On Monday afternoon, the Avs signed him to a one-year, $850,000 deal. Now why in the world would they do this?