Val Nichushkin Skates Again, Full Story & Video

Can we admit it? It has been a long November. The Colorado Avalanche are without two top forwards, Gabriel Landeskog and Val Nichushkin.

Both have made big strides in their progress back to the ice this week while the team has been on the road. As I reported earlier this week, Gabriel Landeskog skated for the first time since his knee surgery in October. He was cautious, but it is progress for sure.

Nichushkin took the ice twice this week. Once was on Tuesday and again today. There was discomfort today as he kept adjusting his skates, but once again, that is progress.

In early November, Nichushkin started having some issues with what coach Bednar was calling his lower body. Bednar even came right out and told the media that adjustments had been done to his skate to make it comfortable for Nichushkin to even skate with the prior foot issues. These issues had come from an injury that he had suffered during the Stanley Cup playoffs. We had all assumed that it was his foot again, but were told that it was his ankle and he will be getting a procedure done on it.

Yesterday he was seen at Family Sports Center taking shots on the ice in his gym clothes. You could see an obvious incision on his right ankle that still had stitches in it. Today he spent about ten minutes out on the rink, gliding and testing the ankle out. Before leaving the team Val Nichushkin had played only seven games but had seven goals and five assists.