This is awful on so many levels.

We won't give up our starter and a good RD prospect for free.

Hawks probably decline. No knock on Girard, but Hawks don't need a left D, even one as skilled as Girard.

This whole Nichushkin thing is a very odd situation. I doubt anyone is trading for him, even at that price, until it is resolved. Even then, it depends on the outcome.

Nuke has a full NMC and he sure as hell isn't waiving for no Montreal. Anyone thinking the Avs are going to just be rid of him is delusional. Plus, the Avs are way better when he plays, that's just a fact. Unless something drastic happens, he's an Av moving forward.

The MTL trade is bad for both teams. The CHI trade is simply bad for the Avs though CHI don't need to do it either.

I'm talking about the weird scandal with the woman in his hotel room in Seattle. If it turns out he did something egregious, I wouldn't be surprised to see COL move on from him, regardless of how good he is. They don't seem like the type of team that would put up with players doing evil stuff. But we honestly don't know much about what went down. So... innocent until proven guilty I guess.

It's not necessarily bad for the Avs. Raddysh is a good young-ish forward on a less than league minimum contract and he is worth a late 1st early 2nd and maybe even a little more. If he can put up 20 goals with a bottom feeder like CHI, imagine what he could do on a good team. Plus, a 3rd in the 2023 draft is a lot better than most 3rds and helps replenish COL's prospect pool while giving them some cap relief to sign someone like Byram and integrate a young promising LHD like Behrens. This draft is no joke, i've been watching A TON of junior/college draft eligibles this year because of CHI's rebuild, and I can tell you it is not an exaggeration when people talk about how deep this draft is. An early 3rd should bring in a player that could easily go in the early to mid 2nd round in most drafts.

Trust me, if they can find a way around it they would, all teams would. They signed May after the head hunting thing with Moore. Unless it's SERIOUSLY bad, it's a business and they rely on fans having very short memories (which they generally do).

It's bad in that it isn't good value, and that's not saying I don't think Raddysh is a good player. The Avs should be able to get more for Girard and a team like CHI will only give less because he isn't a need for them, that makes it a bad trade if you can get a better deal elsewhere.

Maybe. No one is forgetting about what Brad Aldrich did to Kyle Beach, though. Personally, I like it that way. I could never be a fan of another team the way I am a Blackhawks fan, but I am all for holding them accountable and hopefully forcing them to do and say more than they have. Sounds like the thing with Nichushkin could be along the same lines, possibly drugging some girl, essentially kidnapping her by stealing her passport, and who knows what else. Might even be worse than what Brad Aldrich did, but people don't give it the same weight because it's man on woman rather than man on man, which is messed up in itself because rape is rape regardless of gender, drugging someone is drugging someone, kidnapping is kidnapping.

True. I am actually on the side of keeping Raddysh around unless an offer we can't refuse comes around. But it seems a lot of CHI fans are adamant about flipping him at some point.

I 100% TOTALLY agree if it's that bad then it should be a no-brainer, but it doesn't seem to add up with the little we know so far.

Staying with the actual players, I've liked what I've seen of Raddysh, albeit not watched as much hockey this year as I'd have liked due to medical issues, how good is he regarded as being on the defensive side of things?

Oh. I hope everything is alright and you are doing well now!

Raddysh is definitely more offensively geared. But he is a responsible player, I can't recall any defensive blunders that were directly related to his play. I don't recall him having the puck stolen or mishandling it causing a turnover very often. He has decent size and is strong on and off the puck. Positionally sound. Great passer and shooter. Kind of a late bloomer, but that could be a good thing and cause him to have a longer career trajectory.

Thanks for the well wishes. Ongoing thing but it is what it is. Thanks for the info. Hopefully next year I get to watch a bit more though and he's one I'll try to keep my eye on a bit more.

I feel ya. I am 35 and disabled from Crohns disease among other issues. Health issues suck.

I feel for you, and yeah it sucks, just gotta do the best you can with the hand you're dealt and enjoy the good as much as you can.......like HOCKEY!

Exactly. Being disabled is why I am now a career ACGM'er. lol. Still hoping to figure something out some day to get off Disability. But until then hockey stuff keeps me busy.

It isn't a scandal - nobody knows what happened and very little has come out. My guess is that Val is dealing with some sort of addiction issue and needs some time away from hockey. We'll see if he's ready come the start of the season but I seriously doubt anything happened that would allow the Avs to terminate his contract or to make him retire.

Just read this earlier. https://www.cbssports.com/nhl/news/new-details-on-avs-star-valeri-nichushkins-seattle-hotel-room-incident-with-woman-emerge-via-911-call/

There isn't really anything new here and doesn't change anything: Val wasn't arrested or charged with any crime and he is now on "personal leave".

Sure. I mean, it paints a damning picture, but any conclusion is purely speculative at this point.

It isn't really damning unless you want it to be. We have no idea how she got there, if she was drunk or drugged before she came into contact with Val, what their relationship is, etc. It's a whole lot of "fill-in-the-blanks" with whatever details one wants. There really is nothing to go off of and, again, he wasn't arrested and the Avs haven't disciplined him. Chances are, we'll never know the full story.

That's essentially what I said. It looks bad but any conclusion is speculative.