A couple of days ago Avalanche forward Valeri Nichushkin was suspended for 6 months now the team is exploring ways to get out of his contract. The Colorado Avalanche were hit with a major surprise the other day as Valeri Nichushkin was hit with a major suspension for violating the terms of his involvement in the NHL Player Assistance Program. <q>Colorado Avalanche forward Valeri Nichushkin has been placed in Stage 3 of the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program. Under the terms, he will be suspended without pay for a minimum of six months and then will be eligible to apply for reinstatement:</q> <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/TSNHockey/status/1790180814870954338'> </a></blockquote></div> For now, the Colorado Avalanche do not need to worry about the ramifications to their roster when it comes to Valeri Nichushkin. However, this summer he has a no-trade clause that will kick in. This means if he is allowed to return next season moving him would be much more difficult. <q>So what do the Avalanche do now? Well, they can try and trade Nichushkin, but good luck getting another team to take a chance on a player who won't be able to apply for reinstatement until sometime in November. They can try and buy him out of the remainder of his contract, but that will be even more costly than keeping him around.</q> Assuming that Valeri Nichushkin has worn out his welcome in Colorado due to back-to-back years of letting the team down in big moments off the ice they likely will want him gone. If he continues down the path he is on no other team is likely to want to take him and as the quote says a buyout would be catastrophic to the salary cap. The Avalanche likely need to start coming up with a plan now for what to do if Valeri Nichushkin is re-instated by the NHL. There is always the chance that he does not become re-instated and instead takes the Alex Galchenyuk route returning to Russia to play out his career. Source: Hockey Feed - <a href='https://www.hockeyfeed.com/nhl-news/another-issue-emerges-with-valeri-nichuskin-s-situation-in-colorado?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR3FsW9oHJzesxpoHVSlHfjQU156PoTNd86tD32152qYqe9nqcgiCAxsb9s_aem_Aal_hkPedbVK1qrsZ7-5mVAc3il5QUeQ-gco2TJv4pxgziftHCpXfu-R240cYhPRkUIZ5b_E3IKe9YJsNct--2jb' class='lien_marqueur' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>Another issue emerges with Valeri Nichuskin's situation in Colorado We hope he gets the necessary help, but he's not the only one that needs it.</a>