Comin Back to Texas
Tonight, November 29, the Dallas Stars host the Colorado Avalanche at American Airlines Center. It marks the return of the Stars first round pick in 2013, but this time around, and every single day, the stakes are much higher for Val Nichushkin.
Wednesday night, in the most recent demonstration of why he is and can be an absolute force, he scored the only regulation goal and bagged the lone shootout marker in a 5-round shootout thriller with Vegas.
One week ago, Val played his first game for the AVS since serving a 6 month suspension for failing a drug test May 13, hours before Colorado and Dallas’ Game 4 of their second round playoff series.
The series was close - 2-1 Dallas, and the AVS were home looking to even it up. But without their playoff leading goal scorer (Nichushkin had 9 going into that game) coming off a career season, the distraction surrounding the last minute suspension, and the loss of the player, The Stars romped them 5-1 in Game 4 in Denver, on their way to a 6-game victory over the AVS.
Many wondered, I wondered, if that would be the end for Val in Colorado, and maybe his opportunity to play in the NHL again.
It wasn’t - not yet.
During the suspension for the May offense, he completed Stage 3 of the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program and was cleared to go. That followed a highly publicized episode a year earlier in Seattle, where Val, again in a dark place, was at the center of an episode that still begs for clarity and detail.
I know Val and I knew him pretty well. And I should think he knows - this is probably his last chance. And I can tell you first-hand how he knows that for sure.
Let me take you back to when this confident, big Russian teenager first got to BIG D - and let you in on some of the personal details of Val in those days, and my view of where this might all end up, one way or the other…
It’s different for young Russians
When Val came to training camp that first year in 2013, he looked like a lost puppy - this big, rangy, powerful skater with top-end skill, flashing the perpetual impish grin, but unable to speak English and not prepared for the realities of being a young Russian entering the “North American” game.
It’s a thing and it’s still a thing - and it goes way back to the 1972 Summit Series, (between Canada and the old USSR) and maybe before that. NHL GM’s and Coaches, (about 2/3 Canadian and the bulk of the rest North American) who have lived or inherited this pathology, treat young Russians differently than young Canadian or North American players. They just do.
“Plays the game the right way…” is code for a Canadian player playing the north-south game the way Canada has always wanted to play it - and how they’d like all players from all over the world to play. “Honest…” means you’re not gonna get much scoring from the player. “Selfish…” means he’s probably from outside North America and has tons of skill and offensive upside. (Look for my “The Devil’s Hockey Dictionary” posts here for more fun with hockey-speak)
I remember Avalanche great and current President of Hockey Operations Joe Sakic once saying - “if we lose 2-1, everybody’s ok - if we win 6-5, we might get bag skated the next day…”
Some organizations are better equipped to handle young Russian players like Val than others. Colorado is certainly one of those organizations. When Val got there he blossomed. Why it didn’t happen in Dallas is still a bit of a mystery, given Dallas’ Jim Nill’s history with working with and developing young talent from across the globe - but there are things to point to that aren’t on Nill or the Stars.
