Valery Ivanovich Nichushkin

Valery Nichushkin
Date of birth	March 4, 1995
place of birth	Chelyabinsk , Russia
size	192 cm
Weight	89 kg
position	Right wing
number	# 13
Shot hand	Left
Draft
KHL Junior Draft	2012 , 1st round, 11th position HK tractor Chelyabinsk
NHL Entry Draft	2013 , 1st round, 10th position Dallas Stars
Career stations
2011–2012	Belyje Medvedi Chelyabinsk
2012-2013	HK tractor Chelyabinsk
2013-2016	Dallas Stars
2016-2018	HK CSKA Moscow
2018-2019	Dallas Stars
since 2019	Colorado Avalanche

Valeri Ivanovich Nitschuschkin ( Russian Валерий Иванович Ничушкин ; English transcription: Valeri Ivanovich Nichushkin ; born March 4, 1995 in Chelyabinsk ) is a Russian ice hockey player who has been under contract with the Colorado Avalanche in the National Hockey League since August 2019 .

Career

Valery Nitschuschkin was born in the Russian city of Chelyabinsk on the Urals and began his career with the local junior team Belyje Medvedi Chelyabinsk in the Molodjoschnaja Chokkeinaja Liga , the highest Russian junior league. In his 2011/12 debut season , the 16-year-old was on the ice in 38 games for the team. In the 2012 KHL Junior Draft , Nitschuschkin was selected in eleventh position by the HK tractor Chelyabinsk in the first round.

In the following season , Nitschuschkin initially played in parallel for his junior team and the HK Tschelmet Tscheljabinsk , the farm team of the HK tractor Chelyabinsk in the Vysschaja Hockey League . In November 2012 he was appointed to the KHL squad of the tractor for the first time and made his debut in the game against Barys Astana . In the regular season he finally came to 18 missions and scored six points scorer. After he was voted KHL Rookie of the Month three times in a row in January, February and March 2013, he also received the Alexei Tscherepanow Award as the best rookie of the entire season. In the play-offs Nitschuschkin developed into one of the most important players of the team and reached the final of the Gagarin Cup with the team . In 25 games he scored six goals and a total of nine points.

On May 1, 2013, Nitschuschkin was transferred to HK Dynamo Moscow and had a KHL contract until 2015. In the 2013 NHL Entry Draft , Nitschuschkin was considered one of the most promising talents. At the NHL Scouting Combine in late May 2013, Nitschuschkin announced that he had terminated his contract with Dynamo Moscow and that he wanted to play in the National Hockey League in the 2013/14 season . In the 2013 NHL Entry Draft, he was selected tenth by the Dallas Stars , with whom he signed a three-year entry contract in July 2013 .

There he established himself promptly and came in his first season on 79 missions, in which he contributed 34 scorer points. However, the Russian missed most of the following season due to a hip injury that required surgery. In September 2016 he finally moved back to Russia. There he spent two years with HK CSKA Moscow before returning to the Dallas Stars in July 2018, where he signed a two-year contract. After just one year, however, the stars decided to buy out the second year of his contract early in June 2019 . As a result, the Russian joined the Colorado Avalanche as a free agent in August 2019 .

International

Valery Nitschuschkin represented his home country for the first time in 2012 at the World U-17 Hockey Challenge , in which he scored six points in five games. In the same year he was also at the U18 Junior World Championship in the squad of the Russian team and reached fifth place with this. Nitschuschkin was also part of the Russian team at the following U18 Junior World Cup in 2013 and scored four goals and three assists in seven games . After losing to Finland in the bronze medal match, the team missed the medal ranks again.

In January 2013, Nitschuschkin was appointed to the Russian U20 team for the first time and took part in the 2013 Junior World Cup in his own country. In the game for third place against Canada, he finally scored the decisive goal in extra time to win the bronze medal.

Achievements and Awards

• 2013 KHL rookie of the month January
• 2013 KHL rookie of the month February
• 2013 KHL rookie of the month March
• 2013 Alexei Tscherepanow Award (best rookie of the KHL season)

International

• 2013 bronze medal at the U20 World Junior Championship
• 2017 bronze medal at the world championship

Career statistics

Status: end of the 2018/19 season

				Regular season						Playoffs
season	team	league		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
2011/12	Belyje Medvedi Chelyabinsk	MHL		38	4th	6th	10	6th		-	-	-	-	-
2012/13	Belyje Medvedi Chelyabinsk	MHL		9	4th	4th	8th	0		-	-	-	-	-
2012/13	HK Chelmet Chelyabinsk	WHL		15th	8th	2	10	4th		-	-	-	-	-
2012/13	HK tractor Chelyabinsk	KHL		18th	4th	2	6th	0		25th	6th	3	9	0
2013/14	Dallas Stars	NHL		79	14th	20th	34	8th		6th	1	1	2	2
2014/15	Texas Stars	AHL		5	0	4th	4th	12		-	-	-	-	-
2014/15	Dallas Stars	NHL		8th	0	1	1	2		-	-	-	-	-
2015/16	Dallas Stars	NHL		79	9	20th	29	12		10	0	1	1	2
2016/17	HK CSKA Moscow	KHL		36	11	13	24	25th		9	1	4th	5	4th
2017/18	HK CSKA Moscow	KHL		50	16	11	27	14th		19th	3	6th	9	4th
2018/19	Dallas Stars	NHL		57	0	10	10	0		1	0	0	0	0
KHL total				104	31	26th	57	23		53	10	13	23	8th
NHL overall				223	23	51	74	22nd		17th	1	2	3	4th

International

Represented Russia in:

World U-17 Hockey Challenge 2012 U18 Junior World Championship 2012 U20 Junior World Championship 2013

U18 Junior World Championship 2013 2014 Winter Olympics

year	team	event	result		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
2012	Russia	U17-WHC			5	3	3	6th	0
2012	Russia	U18 World Cup	5th place		6th	2	0	2	0
2013	Russia	U20 World Cup			6th	1	1	2	25th
2013	Russia	U18 World Cup	4th Place		6th	4th	3	7th	0
2014	Russia	Olympia	5th place		5	1	0	1	0
Juniors overall					23	10	7th	17th	25th
Men overall					5	1	0	1	0

( Legend for player statistics: Sp or GP = games played; T or G = goals scored; V or A = assists scored ; Pkt or Pts = scorer points scored ; SM or PIM = penalty minutes received ; +/− = plus / minus balance; PP = overpaid goals scored ; SH = underpaid goals scored ; GW = winning goals scored; ¹  play-downs / relegation )

Web links

Commons : Valery Nichushkin  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Player biography on the Colorado Avalanche website
• Valery Nitschuschkin at eliteprospects.com (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ NHL Draft Prospect Nichushkin Traded to Dynamo Moscow , R-Sport, May 1, 2013
2. ↑ Michael Smith: Draft Profile: Valeri Nichushkin , Carolina Hurricanes , June 26, 2013
3. ↑ Mike G. Morreale: Nichushkin looking to answer doubters at Combine , NHL.com, May 29, 2013