Avalanche News
Bednar on Nichushkin: ‘We Don’t Have a Solid Timeline’

Valeri Nichushkin was supposed to be out day-to-day when he got injured against the Winnipeg Jets on New Year’s Eve. Head coach Jared Bednar expected him to miss 7-10 days. He was also working his way back during the homestand and there was once a chance he could play on Wednesday against the Jets.
But that all changed after Bednar’s announcement earlier that morning. Bednar said on Altitude Sports Radio that Nichushkin had suffered a setback and isn’t close to returning.
Hours later, the Avalanche took the ice for morning skate without their big top-line forward. Instead, both Ivan Ivan and Jere Innala will continue to dress on the fourth line and Ross Colton will assume duties as top-line winger in Nichushkin’s place.
Following the skate, Bednar elaborated on the recent setback. While it’s frustrating to not have Nichushkin back just yet, Bednar said that there aren’t any issues with the long-term health of the Russian forward. They don’t expect the injury to linger all season.
“I don’t know about all season but I just think whenever you have a setback, you kind of work backwards, start from the ground up again, and start building back up,” Bednar said. “But anytime without Val is worrisome and now we don’t have a solid timeline on his return.”
It’s well-documented how much better the Avalanche have been with Nichushkin in the lineup compared to without since the start of the 2021-22 season. With him, they’re a 120+ point team, and without him, they’ve been nothing more than a middling team fighting for wildcard positioning.
This season Colorado has a 14-7-0 record with Nichushkin and is 14-12-1 in games he’s missed.
The Avs have nine games before the break for the 4 Nations Faceoff.