OffThePost.org

Well...looks like it was a little of both with Choo Choo....Drugs and "Guests". Looks like the "Guest" OD'd. Really it is not surprising with the way these guys have surgery and then hurry back. I am sure he is dealing with a lot of pain. And I suppose that also explains why he hasn't been himself on the ice. I hope he gets the help he needs and gets back to playing hockey next year.

https://www.denverpost.com/2023/04/27/v ... -response/

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Uh, yeah. This is ugly. The Avs handled this looming PR crisis with the deftness of a monkey at an arts and crafts fair. Now they’ve lost complete control of this narrative.

Fucking hell, Val.

Holy shit.

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Hoo boy, this isn't good

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Thanks Chuck, E.L. and Harmy!

Methinks he will not be on the team when the puck drops next season.

I'm not naive, I imagine there's plenty of hookers and blow behind the scenes in most sports franchises, but this is still unacceptable. He's severely hurt the team's chances of advancing and embarrassed the entire organization due to his selfish actions, he needs to be held accountable.

Yeah, terrible time for that shit to hit the fan. Quite the distraction.

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Unfortunately this is top news in Denver today. Hockey rarely hits the front page around here unless it involves a Championship win or some type of run in with the law.

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Not surprised. Avs had a legit shot at getting ahead of this a bit, and did not do so. I'd fire Jean Martineau's ass five years ago. He's one of the very few holdovers left from the Quebec Nordiques days, but he's always been a Lacroix-guy--radio silence on EVERYTHING. But, that's kinda the culture that still pervades to this day, especially with Sakic, a Lacroix disciple, in charge.

It's actually good that an organization would try and protect the personal lives of their players. They are people who do have problems and don't need their shit broadcast. However in this case it went to the police, you know its going to come out, so they might as well get right out in front of it and be open about it. You'd think every organization would have done risk assessment for these types of situations and have plans drawn up to guide them when they occur. Such as police are involved, we have 24 hours max to be forthcoming.

Besides its not a distraction for the team for at least a week. Better to broadcast the whole damn thing, and get the team refocused in a couple days.

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"

Yep, we don't need the dirty details, simply some clarification as to why a key player is being held out. You can't just keep saying "It's a personal matter." We knew that was bullshit the moment it was said.

I believe we have seen the very last of Valeri Nichushkin in an Avalanche uniform. Can't imagine he continues with the organization after something this explosive.

Most disturbing to me in all of the details that have leaked out via the police report is the claim the woman makes that a man took away her passport. She's obviously a sex worker, but she's also very clearly a victim of human trafficking.

In other news, Cale is in, Manson is out.

And that's fine. It's obvious to everyone Manson was nowhere near ready and his play reflected that.

I'm expecting this game to be the end, the team just looks mentally and physically exhausted, not to mention missing way too many contributors and a few key contributors are clearly not 100% themselves. And part of me will be relieved once it's over...this season has been quite the slog.

A fractured neck for Cogs? and no suspension for Eberle?....yeesh the NHL looks stupid on that one.

Going to be a back to backer tonight with Game 7's..better get my liver ready!

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Alas. The moment that tying goal got called back we all knew it was over.

Thing is, they were absolutely peppering Grubauer with shots, but they didn't do nearly enough to screen him, nor did they capitalize on rebounds. In essence, all the forwards who are really good at generating traffic in front of the net (Landeskog, Nichushkin, Helm, Cogliano) were out.

People are calling this a major upset, and it is, but not nearly as big of one as people think. Avs never got healthy at any point this season, were missing their entire 2nd line from last season, and their top defenseman was nowhere near 100%. And yes, I know, the Kraken were missing their top goal scorer and another huge top six winger.

Ironically, BOTH teams could use an Andrei Burakovsky, who is set to make his way back into the playoffs in either this upcoming round or next.

They need the rest, and frankly so do I. I just feel soooo burned out after this fucking slog of a season.

Congrats to the Kraken, they earned this.

I think the playoffs are too long and most teams that make the Cup finals one year don't have anywhere near enough time to recover before the next season starts. I know the Bolts went to three straight Cup finals and that makes me look wrong, but they also had players take almost entire seasons off before coming back in the playoffs, players who were injured through the playoffs one year...

But I think the league likes the idea of a different champion every year, as it brings big interest to different cities. And if that keeps up, maybe some more "Bettman teams" will win Cups and those expansions will look smarter.

That said, bummer for your Avs. They're a fun team to watch.

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

It was an even shorter summer than usual because of the COVID pause.

Also, the schedule was a fucking trainwreck because of the stupid "Global Series." Basically had like two weeks off before and after the trip, then had to play an insanely compacted schedule from November to somewhere around Christmas. They had a huge stumble from post-Xmas to around mid-to-late January, and the division title would have been out of reach had it not been for Winnipeg's monumental collapse down the stretch. Never send these fuckers overseas again.

In hindsight, getting home ice advantage worked against them. They Avs were, oddly, a much better road team than they were at home. They also have a ridiculously bad record in Game 7s stretching all the way back to 2003 onward. They are just not a team that can get into a slogfest and come out, especially this year. They dispatched their foes in record fashion last year--sweep, six games, sweep, six games.

ZERO GOALS from the bottom six in this series. Pretty much every score had something to do with MacKinnon, Rantanen, or Makar. That about says it all.

The thing I take away from all this is THANK THE HOCKEY GODS they went all-in last year and came out on top. Someone once asked Joe Sakic post 2001 if the Stanley Cup is a hard trophy to win twice. He replied "It's a hard trophy to win once."

Yeah, there are plenty of franchises that have never won. Ask their GMs and fans how hard it is to win. ]
I didn't even realize the other stuff with the Avs' schedule. Crazy.

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

*sigh* More details come to light.

https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/kra ... ichushkin/

Some things to note, initial reports said a team employee went into Nichushkin's hotel room and found the woman there, but now they're saying she was outside the room, and when Police and EMTs showed on the scene, she was in the lobby. So in short, someone moved her.

On the call, the guy (who was later identified as the team doctor) said that he was asked to call 911 and also speculates that she might have more than just alcohol in her system.

And of course Nichushkin was spirited away immediately by team security and we haven't seen him since.

Sure looks like there was some furious work behind the scenes to try and cover Nichushkin's tracks. Don't see how a criminal investigation does not eventually happen but then again this is professional sports.

Holy shit, I didn't realize he has 7 more years on his contract! This will be interesting to watch unfold.

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Yep...I can totally understand why they prioritized re-signing him over Kadri even though the latter had an insane career year, but in hindsight, that may have been a mistake.