[Dater] I’m hearing Nichushkin failed a drug test. But I have no idea what the “drugs” are
Sorry, this post was deleted by the person who originally posted it.
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Previous tweet from Dater:
NHLPA announces Nichushkin has been placed in Stage 3 of NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program, he will be suspended without pay for a minimum of six months.
Just quote the NHLPA release. Dater is a complete hack.
Wow he really is just like me
fr fr
Either way, not great.
There were rumors last year that there was an issue with pills stemming from his terrible foot injury in '22 which led to his ending up in the PAP. I'm going to hope that we're not talking about a relapse for his sake.
The Avs are also hyper fucked without this dude. So that part also sucks. It's secondary in a general sense but the timing is oof.
I caught a lot of shit earlier this year when I said that I had heard that some folks in Avs management had real concerns about this guys ability to deal with his addiction issues. They were afraid he wouldn't be back this year. That part proved out to be incorrect but maybe the sentiment wasn't.
I wonder if playoffs result in more opioid use due to guys trying to play hurt. Cant imagine you could ever break an addiction if your forced to take them to do your job. Of course it even being painkiller related is speculation
I remember a few years back after the playoffs it came out some dude was playing with a punctured lung…like how are you even alive?
Bergeron. And a separated shoulder and broken ribs that same playoffs.
Not trying to take anything away but his lung wasn’t punctured “violently”. They believe it was from a needle while treating his ribs.
If it was a real punctured lung I don’t think they would let him fly.
Yeah, we have no idea. I only know the part about the management's concerns with certainty.
I know during the bubble playoffs, people were preferring edibles just to help them recover and fall asleep faster.
There are non opioid painkillers available tho
Unfortunately, most of them just can’t match opioids in effectiveness.
NSAIDS, ibuprofen and gabapentin likely aren’t powerful enough. Meanwhile, ketamine and medical marijuana aren’t really compatible with playing sports.
I disagree. Marijuana might be one of the most sports compatible drugs. At least in the American football scene it's wildly like 25% of my former teammates, current D1 team smoke daily and practice high, and 1 or 2 starters play high.
Guess we have money for Drouin potentially now
In theory. They can use LTIR but you can't terminate the contract while he's in PAP and I don't know how they can work around both him and Landy now.
CMac really has his work cut out for him.
I'm sure if the Avs are ready to move on from him, they'll find him a home the moment he's ready to come back. Some team will certainly take him. Plus he still needs to be reinstated by the NHL once 6 months are up.
Coming from someone who’s currently bouncing back from a fent relapse I have the upmost sympathy for him he deserves all the support he can get
Might be different rules since he was forced in?
If this is true it is really sad, I hope the best for the dude. It’s weird to think someone can come out & perform at such a high level while struggling with this type of shit.
Opioid addiction is no joke. I hope he has people either inside or outside the organization that are truly looking out for him.
Is it really the right time for, “I told you so!”
This is sad. Most of the comments are going to lambaste this guy, call him stupid, selfish, whatever. But any of us with friends or family dealing with addiction issues knows how crippling addiction can be. Doesn’t matter how much money or support someone has. Add in past trauma we don’t know about, mental health issues we don’t know about. Then imagine your issues and its destructive impact on your career being aired publicly, and speculated upon widely. I hope the hockey community tries to lead with empathy, and I hope Val is able to recover. He is far from the only pro athlete with addiction issues.
Edit: mistakes
I hate reactions like "just don't fucking do it".
God, really? If only they knew it was that easy!
I’m a recovering alcoholic/addict, a little over 2 years sober right now but I have relapsed in the past while trying to get sober. It does not come from a place of selfishness, and most of the time you hate yourself the second you touch something again. I can’t imagine how hard it would be to return to pro hockey while still early in sobriety, when first getting sober I was encouraged to take on a low stress job for a year instead of returning to my career (I am a physician) in order to be able to focus more energy into building a solid foundation. I was resistant but did it anyways and I don’t know if I could have stayed sober otherwise. It sucks for someone in his position that who has outside pressure and expectations where doing what I did might seem impossible. Hoping the best for him, active addiction is literal hell.
Yeah addiction is so fucking hard. I’ve got ~18 months off of alcohol now. I still feel horrible remembering the amount of pain my drinking caused folks close to me. I feel such a deep sense of shame and this all largely played out completely under wraps for me.
I can’t imagine having what (likely feels like) my worst personal failures displayed for the world. I know that addiction is a sickness but you absolutely feel like it’s just you being a fuck up because you’re a fuck up.
This is the only comment that should be in this thread. Opioid addiction is no joke; forget hockey, I hope he’s able to get healthy enough to enjoy the rest of a long life.
Hard to sympathize with somebody who was found with a drunk trafficked prostitute.
And yet we live in a society that recognizes addiction as a disease; a society that recognizes everyone’s ability to be rehabilitated and to make amends for their mistakes. It doesn’t excuse what he did, but until you’ve battled addiction you’ll never understand how low it can get you.
There is being at a low point and then there is harming others
Yeah it must be traumatic to have seen some of the awful things he's seen in the process of trafficking women.
Having a top 20 forward out hurts the Avs chances.
Source?
https://media.nhl.com/public/news/18032
Not to mention leading scorer in the playoffs. Damn. Avs are cooked.
Bro come the fuck on. I hope as a human being he gets help but he’s out of this team. 2nd straight year.
Unless something contractual about this is available to us he’s not going anywhere
There has to be a clause or something inserted into his contract that allows for termination in terms of drugs or the like, or the NHL has something in place for it.
Damn I thought they stopped drug tests in the playoffs
Only on their own DOPS staff
That would explain shit.
Tbh I don’t know if this is a joke or not lol
Unless you are involved in the assistance program for a previous drug problem, then you get tested
If the league tested for coke, half the players would be suspended.
It’s also out of your system pretty quick so probably wouldn’t be too much of a problem
No they wouldn’t. Coke is out of your system quickly.
Not if they do hair though.
if you mix it with alcohol it creates a chemical in your bloodstream that can stay detectable longer.
They do.
A maximum of 60 players are tested in the offseason, and they are selected randomly.
Every team is subject to teamwide, no-notice testing once during training camp and once during the regular season. Individual players can be selected for random testing during the regular season and playoffs.
Bullshit
Wasn't his name thrown around in the Russian doping scandal?
RIP Cup dreams
Anyone else missing Kadri right bout now?
Guy just wanted to join the Utah Powder
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Probably was getting the shakes from thinking about requesting a trade to their team.
2/3 of a line with fellow line lover Kuzi
We just need Tyler Blowzak to turn the clock back 10 years to complete the Line
This guy and the playoffs….
Suspended 6 months
Dude just can't get out of his own way.
Guess Avs security team couldn't whisk him away from this one. Hope the girl everyone decided to forget about is doing okay. Probably not, but I hope.
The body cam footage at the hotel is so upsetting
What did the footage show?
The woman found in his room giving her report to the first responders
That’s insane. Did anything ever come of this story? Did they find out what he was doing to her or was it swept under the rug
Being great at one thing often means you can be shitty everywhere else and people will pretend not to see
Like the World Junior players
I feel like she would’ve filed a police report if something really bad happened no?
Police were called, it’s just hard to prove these things
Yawn
Just to point this out, Dater is not a good source nowadays, not denying this is true just saying to take anything he says with a grain of salt
Edit: And then the NHL announces he is in player assistance, so this just turned into something else
He’s been right on about everything of recent years. He’s obviously got sources somewhere.
Seriously
Either you are a Dater account or haven't paid attention to a lot. Guy is not a good journalist nowadays, it is what it is.
I’ve simply just noticed a trend that he drops a rumour, it gets discredited because it’s Dater, then it turns out to be true.
That said I don’t like the guy. Would rather support Evan Rawal.
Only times I have seen him be right in recent memory is when people are going to player's assistance and everyone else has chosen not to report on it because mental health is something to just let the team choose how much they want to let out.
Yet he broke the story lol
Gonna be honest with you, other reporters knew this was going down. Maybe I am the only one who sees someone going into player assistance and the reason for as something that you should probably leave alone. It's the same thing as reporting a player is going to announce his retirement before he does like what has happened in the NFL. Ya sure you got the "scoop" but it is still a dick move. Dater lost contacts because he consistently has lost people's respect in the organization, hence no longer having access to the players. As the saying goes a broken clock is right twice a day.
Player assistance is for drugs in addition to mental health or other reasons
And?
And you won't even admit that he was correct even when the league says it because you have some weird grudge.
He is correct, yes this happened. This post you responded to I am legit confused why they were stating what player assistance is for? It has no correlation with what I posted. I was saying that Dater as a person is not a credible source, I believed it when I saw credible sources post it.
Fuck I know that demon well it's definitely a constant battle and sometimes it wins hopefully he can get back in the fight
This just goes to show that drugs don't discriminate...doesn't matter who you, your only one away....very unfortunate for him. I hope he gets the help he needs and deserves.
A $49 million forward who scored 9 goals in 10 playoff games. I don't think he needs anybody's "help". Especially a bunch of counselors with 0 life experience.
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Val "Josh Gordon" Nichushkin
I’m deleting you Josh Gordon etc etc
I was always the guy that took him in fantasy, except for the good years of course.
Long live u/Steak_Knife
It’s an addiction. It’s not a fucking lark!
Recovery from addiction isn’t linear. You’re oversimplifying it by making it seem like he’s just clueless but that’s the power of addiction. I hope he will keep working to fix these problems. It could be the pressure of the sport, the culture, etc, but I don’t think his career is necessarily over.
His career isn't over
When you frame it as "he's throwing away millions just to get high" you makes this sound like he has a problem with being irresponsible, when at this point it seems much more like he is an addict, is mentally ill, and is out of control of his actions. He needs intensive therapy and treatment. It's not as simple as "make better decisions".
He’s too good for his career to be over because of this.