Colorado Avalanche face a major challenge as Valeri Nichushkin suffers a lower-body injury set to sideline him for “some time.” Can the Avalanche maintain their elite win percentage without this dynamic forward? Chris Micieli and Zach Pearson spotlight Nichushkin’s outsized impact, discussing shocking win-loss splits with and without him since 2019 and exploring potential lineup replacements, including Gabe Landeskog, Gavin Brindley, and Logan O’Connor (eventually). Will Colorado’s “next man up” mentality keep the team rolling, or is a rough stretch ahead?
The conversation heats up with insights into Gavin Brindley’s new contract extension and what his high-ceiling play means for the Avalanche’s future. Roster flexibility, bottom-six shakeups, and the looming Buffalo Sabres matchup set the stage for crucial tests ahead. Get the latest predictions, waiver-wire moves, and a full breakdown of coaching tactics—all as the Avalanche fight to stay atop the Western Conference.
00:00 Missing Val’s Impact Deeply
05:02 Avalanche’s Resilience Through Challenges
07:51 Lineup Shuffle Suggestions
09:29 Nichuskin’s Persistent Injury Concerns
15:12 Brindley Extension
16:14 Bridge or Extend Decision
26:42 Buffalo Sabres’ Overtime Struggles
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23 Comments
Ahh I didn’t get on in time
LOC is still a week or so away, he's skating in a non-contact jersey so he's close. As for the lines while he's out, there are several options. I don't like the idea of just moving Landy up there since that would leave you with a really small 3rd line. if you want the one for one swap, i could see either Olofson or Brindley as most likely. Even though he's almost a foot shorter than Val, Brindley is probably the closest to him in style the way he relentlessly hounds pucks all over the ice. The other option would be to swap all the wingers and put Landy and Olofson up with Nelson and then put Colton and Brindley with Drury. that would still give you a good combination of scoring and physical forechecking on each line. as for the fourth line, i think Nielson is the most likely and we'll see that line go back down to the 6-8 mins with Kelley getting big pk duty and other spot shifts around the lineup.
The Brindley extension is a good bit of work by both sides. Bednar has said that he has top 6 potential, so the kid is betting on himself. If he can keep improving I see him becoming another Lehkonen in a year or so. hopefully for Brindley, that next contract will be 4+ years in the $4-6 mil range.
Val brings a lot to this team… We need him to heal up and be ready for playoffs. I think we can get the 1 seed without him, especially with Brindley coming up, LOC and Kivi coming back. .
Avs need young and energetic players in the pipeline. Glad to see Brindley have success.
Drop him already…
Prediction: Brindley moves to L2. JB has shown he likes to keep lines together & L3 has been working well. Gavin has been playing 11m, so give him an extra shift per period to bump him up to 13-14m no prob!
There goes the toughness well beside Landy these weirdos saying drop him forget what traditionary happens in his absence. Dudes played through the finals without a foot. His style of play your going to have injuries. When they try to hop him up on pain relievers he gets suspended funny it’s always magically at the playoffs.
AVS need more size
Unfortunately, this is an annual occurrence and fully to be expected with Val. Take away the two playoff leave of absence/suspensions, every year he misses big chunks of time with injury. He's injury prone. By injury prone, I mean 25-30 games missed every regular season injury prone. Not counting the covid years, go look it up. The only seasons he played a full slate of games he was still with Dallas.
I checked a couple seasons ago, and it was wild how different the Avs's win rate was with and without Chooch. It was something like 70%win with him playing, 40% with him off. Wild
Yo digging the Wake Me shirt! Started following those guys in the mid 2000s when they were No Fair Fights!…… Chuchu is gonna be big shoes to fill!
Val brings a lot more to the team than scoring, for sure. He's one of the most physical players which is probably why he's more injury prone than others (see also: Lehky). We'll be testing that depth now. I think they'll be fine.
Go figure. At this point if it isnt drugs, or women something is always wrong with this guy. This Contract has not worked out for Colorado.
Great Show guys!!!…
PLEASE call me out, I want to be wrong on this, but I just have a bad feeling on this one😒
But I just can't believe Big Val is out. No I am not the biggest Val fan, but I hate to see any of our guys hurt….
Honestly so far I am very happy with the Bednar/Hakstol combo. I was Honestly worried when he was hired. But they seem to be able to pull good results from these guys.
Has Girard been confirmed for tonight??.. And LOC was supposed to come back in November, any updates??
Let's go avs… PROVE MADAME WRONG!!!😊😊
not that i want to be without val but i'd really like to see ivan or Prishchepov get a few games this year.
lol 10 seconds after i typed that u guys mentioned both players.
nichuskin will not be as big of a hit to the lineup this time because landy is very good at the same two way checking game. we've still got guy like that in the lineup.
val is a big guy that plays a very hard game 100% of the time, that kind of effort takes a toll for sure.
i'd rather he go down now and be fine for the playoffs, no need to rush him.
i also don't think he ever really recovered fully from that broken foot, that was a nasty ass break that caused all sorts of issues on and off the ice.
i wonder if the avs are gonna be looking to trade kivi, idk how much of a market there is for him seeing how long it took for him to sign, but at this point i would rather have brindley in than him.
dumping all that cap space and getting a player like brindley was a stroke of genius. i never liked the coyle trade to begin with tbh. im still not super sold on the nelson trade either but it is what it is.
@27:31
i remember that, it was lucic who hit ryan miller (their all star goalie and probably best player) like real hard, and not a single person did jack shit… that was crazy. if i remember correctly miller was traded not long after and that really was the beginning of buffalo's sad state.
literally the top comment on the video on reddit "To this day I point to this as the moment that broke the Sabres franchise." lmfao
It’s T. Makar
I just hope this doesnt knock him off the wagon. I hope we can keep him on the straight and narrow
Am I missing something or are those Val numbers way off? That would be an average of 160 games a year over six years but he didn’t even join until 2020
Val’s positive effect on the Avs win percentage is remarkable. Now Girard, not so much.